oat ol An-n* of Armeoia, 



.MENIA « ARl 



ARMENIANS 






::'i" :;i:ir 



Illustrated Armenia 

and the 

Armenians 

By the 
REV. OHAN GAIDZAKIAN, M. D. 

SECOND EDITION 



Copyrighted by 

Ohan Gaidzakian 

and 

B. H. AZNIVE 

1908 



BOSTON 

Published by 
B. H. AZNIVE, 




REV. OHAN GAIDZAKIAN, M. D. 



THE WRITER. 

A SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND OCCUPATION. 

I was born January 7, 1837, in Albastan in the state of 
Aleppa. When I was a young man, 17 years old, that was in 
year 1852, some strangers came to my own town Albastan. Ai- 
ter staying at an inn for a few days, they left the city, but they 
left four copies of the New Testament and several religious 
pamphlets in their room. The inn was kept by my cousin; so 
he got those blessed books and pamphlets, and a few days after 
that he presented a copy of the New Testament to me. I 
learned also that the strangers, who visited our city, were mis- 
sionaries of the American Board. I read this book or New 
Testament always secretly in some private place. I always 
kept it in my pocket, for fear that I would be persecuted for 
reading it; and besides if I had read it in public it might have 
been taken from me and thrown in the fire, because in that 
time Armenian patriarchs in Constantinople had given special 
command and orders to all Armenian churches all over Asia 
Minor against missionaries and all their publications also. 
For that reason nearly two years I kept reading my New Tes- 
tament, which worked its wonderful result upon my heart. I 
was convicted of my sinfulness, repented of my sins and found 
forgiveness for my sins, and peace to my disturbed soul. That 
Bible was the only means of my conversion and subsequent 
happiness and blessing of my life. 

After a few years, Rev. Beebee and Rev. Perkins, Ameri- 
can missionaries of Marash, had visited my native town, Al- 
bastan, and had organized the evangelical Armenian church 
with only eight members, one of whom was myself. During 
the first two years I had a good many troubles and persecutions 

7 



from my mother, relations and also from Armenian friends. 
A few years after that I came to Marash and studied in the 
College and the Theological Seminary under the supervision 
of the American Board of Foreign Missions. During my theo- 
logical season I married a Christian young lady, who is living 
with me yet. I was graduated from the Theological Seminary 
in 1869 and have been laboring in the Lord's fields in Antioch, 
Kasab, Balin and Adana. For the first two years I preached 
in those places, and in 1872 I had a call from the Evangelical 
church of Marash. I was ordained in that church the same 
year, in October. For about four years I had successful pas- 
toral work in that church, and in 1876 I had a call from the 
Evangelical church at Adana. I preached at that place until 
1881, and then realizing a great demand for a medical mission 
at home for that purpose, I came to America about 18 years 
ago, and through the help of the Rev. Cyrus Hamlin, D. D., 
and Rev. Dr. Clark, the secretary of American Board of For- 
eign Missions, — these noble men opened my way to the medi- 
cal department of the Vermont University where I was gradu- 
ated in 1883. Soon after I returned home with better advan- 
tages in healing the sick and preaching the Gospel to the poor 
and rich. For this privilege I consider myself indebted to the 
American Congregational churches in this country. 

So how much I was glad to get that New Testament; 
and through it I have had a good many blessings in my native 
land, both I and my family also. 

I am, as you will see, a refugee. I have with the greatest 
difficulty escaped from Turkish barbarism, after suffering the 
greatest outrages, abandoning home, property and friends in 
Armenia. But I have brought with me a large family, more 
than 18 months ago; and have had much trouble and very hard 
time always. I am now 61 years old, not able to work out of 
doors. Unable to practice my profession in this country, I re- 
sort, therefore, to the only method of earning for my family an 
honest living that I have at hand, namely, the sale of my books, 
and my Lord's prayer chart in 12 different languages, both of 

8 



which were prepared by myself. I wish to call your attention 
to the testimonials of prominent clergymen, professors and 
missionaries of American Board, and the Foreign Missionaries. 
The following few are selected: 

Lexington, Mass., 

Kov. 23d, 1896. 
To any Christian Minister or Private Individual: 

I wish to introduce to your kind regards Rev. Ohan Gaidza- 
kyan, M. D., an Armenian refugee from Adana, Asia Minor — 
or rather, Northern Syria — where he has been a successful 
physician, and also a preacher of the Gospel, among his people 
in Cilicia, for more than twenty years. 

He can tell his own story of the escape of himself and his 
family of seven, and lately also of relations, ten in number, who 
arrived from Marseilles, aided by Lady Henry Somerset. 

The question now is how to keep the wolf from the door? 

He has certain articles and books to sell, x^t the same 
time, he is anxious to be acquainted with the spiritual welfare of 
his native people in the United States, and to preach the Gospel 
as he may come in contact with them. He will answer any 
questions you may ask about Turkey and the Massacres. 

If you will kindly, in any way you choose, give access to 
your people he is hopeful of gaining sufficient to support him- 
self and family, also to succeed in his purpose of Christian 
work. I have known him for about sixteen years as an earnest 
worker. I commend him to your wise advice. 

(Signed) Cyrus Hamlin, 

Ex-President of Robert College of Constantinople. 



To whom it may Concern : 

The bearer. Rev. Ohan Gaidzakyan, M. D., I have known 
for a good many years in Asia Minor, as a preacher and prac- 
tising physician, although he has occupied a pulpit about three 
years under my care, namely, in Neegda, and he has been an 
able and always faithful man. But in consequence of the late 
troubles in Turkey, he has with the greatest dii^culty escaped 
from Turkish oppressions, after suffering the greatest out- 

9 



rages. Abandoning home, property and friends, he has with 
a large and dependent family come to America. Even now he 
has had many months of illness in his family, and the struggle 
to keep the wolf from the door is no mean struggle. In his 
efforts to earn an honorable living by the sale of his beautiful 
chart of "Our Lord's Prayer" in tw^elve different languages, 
and books, I would gladly, if I could, enlist the interest of every 
Christian minister and private individual. I wish for him a 
kindly and sympathetic reception and consideration with 
Christian fellowship. 

(Signed) W. A. Farnsworth, 

Missionary of the A. B. C. F. M. 
in Ccesarea, Asia Minor, Turkey. 

Woburn, Mass., July 7, 1897. 



128 Wall Street, 
New Haven, Conn., 

28 Oct., 1896. 

This will certify that I have known Rev. Dr. Ohan Gaidza- 
kyan for the past sixteen years. He is a graduate of the Medi- 
cal Department of Vermont University, and has been practis- 
ing medicine in Adana, Turkish Empire, during the last fifteen 
years. He has been reduced to utter poverty by the plunder- 
ing officials of the Turkish Empire, and has been obliged to 
flee to this country with his family. He is endeavoring to find 
some way in which he can support his needy family, and is anx- 
ious to gain such support in an honorable and self-respecting 
way. I would bespeak for him a friendly reception from all 
those to whom he apDcals, and can cordially testify to the entire 
integrity of his Christian character. 

(Signed) Lewis O. Brastow, 
Professor in Yale Divinity School. 



To whom it may Concern: 

This will introduce the Rev. Ohan Gaidzakyan, M. D., 
who, together with his family, was among the refugees who 

10 



escaped with their Uves, but with the loss of ah their property, 
from their late home in Armenia, which the inhuman Turk has 
rendered desolate with fire and sword. Dr. Gaidzakyan is en- 
deavoring to support his family by the sale of a beautiful chart 
of "Our Lord's Prayer," in twelve different languages, pre- 
pared by himself, and also by the sale of a small but very inter- 
esting book by Frederick Davis Green, on the "Armenian 
Grisis in Turkey." 

I am well acquainted with Dr. Gaidzakyan, and know him 
to be an earnest Ghristian man and one worthy of assistance in 
his struggle to make the best of his present circumstances. 

I bespeak for him a cordial reception wherever he may 
present this. 

(Signed) Judson V. Glancy, 

Pastor Gongregational Church. 
West Medford, Sept. 14th. 



CONTENTS : 

Chapter. 

I. Where is Armenia, or the Land of Armenia? 

II. I. Who are the Armenians? and the history of Arme- 
nian dynasty. 2. The Haigazian, the Arshago- 
nian. 3. The Pakradoanian and the Rupenian 
dynasties. 

III. The period of the Armenian subjection. 

IV. What was the religion of the Armenian nation before 

the converted of Christianity? 

V. First introduction of the Gospel at Armenia. 

VI. The prominent men of the period, and the Armenian 
literature and Armenian church form. 

VII. Missionary work among the Armenians and its results. 

VIII. The Last Horrors to the Armenians in Turkey. 
IX. The Massacre and Martyrdom in Armenia. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Armenia has generally been termed 'The cradle of the hu- 
man race," in view of the scriptural indication of it as the land 
of man's origin. In fact, the mention of the four rivers (Gen. 
IL, lo-ii) seems to point conclusively to the situation of the 
Garden of Eden near the source of the river Euphrates, which 
takes its rise in the mountains of Armenia. 

Then there is the great and everlasting monument, Mount 
Ararat, with which will be inseparably associated the exceed- 
ingly ancient name of Armenia, destined, though the race itself 
be now threatened with extermination, to immortality. 

In their native tongue they speak of their people as 
"Haik," and of Armenia as ''Hayastan," derived from that 
great ancestor and patriarch who formed their kingdom. 

By foreigners they came to be known as Armenians, from 
the name of King Aram, whose bravery is fittingly recorded 
in these pages. 

Armenia can trace its origin to a period three centuries 
anterior to that of the Jewish nation, inasmuch as Haik, its 
founder, who was fifth in descent from Noah, was born 2277, 
B. C., whereas Abraham's birth did not occur till 1996 B. C. 
Its people, as a whole, were the first to embrace Christianity 
and, as narrated in the body of this work, King Abgar held 
communication with Jesus Christ. Throughout the ages they 
have cherished their Christian belief, in spite of innumerable 
trials and they still preserve it unswervingly. 

So we find, after nineteen centuries, the people still living 
in firm adherence to Christian doctrine and discipline, submis- 
sive to their ecclesiastical head, the respected and beloved 
Father Mgertich L, the catholicos of all the Armenians, who 

13 



now sits on the very seat of the Apostles Thaddeus and Bar- 
tholomew and of St. Gregory the Illuminator. 

We may quote here a passage from Mr. F. D. Greene's 
work on ''The Armenian Crisis and the Rule of the Turk," 
with reference to the adoption of national religious belief. He 
writes : "They (the Armenians) have the distinction of being 
the first race who accepted Christianity, King Dertad receiv- 
ing baptism in 2^6 A. D., thirty-seven years before Constan- 
tine ventured to issue even the Edict of Toleration. Their 
martyr roll has grown with every century. The fact that rhe 
Armenian stock exists at all today is proof of its wonderful 
vitality and excellent quality. More then for 3,000 years Ar- 
menia, on account of her location, has been trampled into dust 
both by devastating armies and by migrating hordes. She has 
been the prey of Nebuchadnezzar, Xerxes, Alexander, and the 
Romans, the Parthians, and Persians, and Byzantine, Saracen, 
and Crusader, of Seljuk and Ottoman, and Russian and Kurd, 
etc. Through this awful record the Christian church, founded 
by St. Gregory the Illuminator, has been the one rallying 
point and source of strength. 



Illustrated 
Armenia and the Armenians. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE STORY OF ARMENIA. WHERE IS ARMENIA ? 

Having found out, during my last visit to America, that a 
large majority of people in America are without any knowledge 
of Armenia and its historic events, and that they are anxious 
to know something about the country, I have intended to give, 
hereby, a brief account about its history. 

First of all, Armenia is a very important country in regard 
to its connection with the Bible. Armenia is the cradle of 
mankind, and the venerable mother of all other countries. 
Our first parents were created in that land. The beautiful 
garden of Eden, which was planted for their enjoyment, was 
in that land. It was in this garden that our first parents had 
their first direct communication with Jehovah. It was there, 
that after their disobedience, they offered a sacrifice to God, 
and out of the skins of the sacrificed animals God made them 
clothes and clothed them. The first religious service, and the 
first plan of forgiveness by grace were instituted in the garden 
of Eden near its eastern gate and in the midst of seraphim and 
cherubim with their flaming sword. 

Adam and his wife, after their fall, were driven out of 
the garden of Eden into the land of Armenia, which was full 
of thorns and thistles, that they might till the ground and thus 
provide their daily bread in the sweat of their face. 

Our first mother rocked the cradle of her first offspring In 
Armenia. Therefore this country became the residence of our 
first parents and the inheritance of their children. 



l6 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

It was there that Cain and his brother Abel were born and 
brought up. Cain became a tiller of the ground, and selected for 
himself the fertile lands of Armenia, while Abel became a keeper 
of sheep, and led his sheep on the green pastures at the foot of 
Mount Ararat and watered them out of the rivers flowing from 
the garden of Eden. 

The altar upon which Abel offered sacrifice to God with 
a sincere faith, was in that country. 

Cain slew his brother Abel in Armenia, hence the first 
murder, and the first martyrdom took place in that land. On 
account of this murder Cain left Armenia and went to the 
land of Nod in Arabia, situated on the southeastern direction 
of Eden, and there he was settled, built cities and founded the 
land of Midianites. 

God, after Abel's death, gave Adam another son, named 
Seth, to our first parents, and after having many sons and 
daughters born to them, and having lived their nine hundred 
and thirty years, died, and were buried in Armenia. 

It was in that land that Enoch walked with God for three 
hundred years, and it was from there that with chariots and 
horses of fire he was translated to heaven without tasting death. 

Armenia was the land of all the people living in the world 
during the first fifteen hundred years from Adam to Noah. 

It was in that land that Noah, the patriot, was born, and 
for a period of one hundred and twenty years was the preacher, 
pastor and father of the people of that land. 

The preparations for the Deluge were made in that land, 
as the Deluge, took place there, mankind having not yet dis- 
persed to other parts of the world. One of the convincing 
proofs that the Deluge took place in Armenia is that the 
waters of the Deluge have left their remnants in Armenia in 
the form of the present Armenian lakes and especially the 
Caspian Sea. This fact cannot be refuted. 

According to the testimony of the Bible the mountains 
of Ararat are in the land of Armenia, and when the waters 
were abated, the ark rested upon the mountains of Ararat. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I7 

After a certain time in the ark Noak looked out of the 
window, looked over the land and found that the waters 
were wholly abated, and according to the word of God he left 
the ark with eight persons, who were his kith and kin, and 
descended to his beloved land of Armenia. As soon as he 
left the ark he built an altar and offered a sacrifice to God. 
Then he tilled the earth, planted gardens and vineyards, and 
of their products he made wine and drank. It was Armenia 
that produced Noah. He lived there before and after the 
Deluge. It is not reasonable to think that after he left the 
ark he went to a distant place, but he lived where he was 
before; and after having sons and daughters and grand-chil- 
dren, and living three hundred and fifty years, died. 

Gomer was the son of Japheth, the second son of Noah. 
Togarmah was the son of Gomer, and Haig was the son of 
Togarmah. Haig was the first prince or king of that land, 
therefore the land was named Haisdan. He fought with 
Nimrod, who wanted to build the tower of Babel; he con- 
quered him, and became the chief ruler of a large region. 
Haig was succeeded by his son Armenag, in whose honor the 
country was also named Armenia. 

It is very likely that you may think as though I am say- 
ing these things as historic curiosities or as fables. It is 
natural for you to say, "Well, here is an Armenian lunatic, we 
don't care what he says." It is all right if you think so. But 
hi the way of proving what I say I want to bring before you the 
following two points, and wait for their answers. 

First. The Garden of Eden was the first residence of our 
first parents. The rivers that issued from the Garden bear 
the same old names to-day as in the days of Adam. We have 
them to-day in the same position and with the same old names. 
I cannot exactly tell in what part of Armenia the Garden 
stood, as the Deluge wholly wiped out the Garden. But 
judging by the original source of these rivers we can infer 
that it stood on the east of Mount Ararat. This leads us to 
say that the home of our first parents was in Armenia. 



r8 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Second. According to the Bible, God spoke to Noah 
that he would send the Deluge to the world within one hun- 
dred and twenty years. Noah made preparations for it. It 
goes without saying that the Deluge took place where man- 
kind was, and, as I said before, the first population of the 
world was only in Armenia. Therefore the Deluge took place 
in Armenia and the ark rested on the top of Mount Ararat. 
The traces of the Deluge are still seen in the numerous lakes 
in Armenia, especially in the Caspian Sea. 

If there are those among the hearers or readers who have 
objections to these points, let them kindly tell them and I will 
endeavor to answer them. 

But the student of the Bible will find a great delight in 
perusing any Biblical and historical work, for the discourses 
of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Egyptian, Moabyan and Persian 
monuments and tablets, with the decipherment of their cunei- 
form inscriptions, have verified much of Biblical narrative, 
satisfied the honest doubting minds and silenced the idle 
cavilers. Armenia indeed does not equally rank with these 
countries in the importance of its discoveries, or in its 
immediate relation to the land of the Israelites. Yet Armenia 
played an important role in the drama of the history of West- 
ern Asia in the past, and who can tell what she may still do in 
the future. 



THE LAND OF ARMENIA; IT IS THE MOST PICTURESQUE OF 

COUNTRIES. 

The country of Armenia lies directly north of the Mes- 
opotamia plain. It is a mountainous country, and contains 
all of the great river resources of Western Asia. The Euphra- 
tes, the Tigris, the Araxes, Cyrus (Kur), the Acampsis and 
Holys (called Kizil Irmak) take their rise in the highland of 
Armenia and flow into three different seas, fertilizing the 



fnillllMWi 




MOUNT ARARAT. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. IQ 

subjacent countries through which they run. Armenia is well 
likened to Switzerland in its relation to the Western part of 
Asia, as the latter is to Western Europe. 

I. Its general character is that of a plateau. On the north, 
Armenia reaches almost to the Caucasian mountains; on the 
west, the Black sea, Asia Minor and the Taurus mountains; 
on the south, the bay of Mesopotamia, the upper part of which 
was included in the Armenian provinces, "the Noire" of the 
cuneiform inscriptions; on the east, the Caspian sea and 
Midia bounded Armenia.* In the time of Herodotus, Arme- 
nia must have been about 550 miles from east to west, and 
250 miles from north to south: or about 150,000 square 
miles. The country was divided into two parts, namely, 
Armenia Major and Armenia Minor. The latter lay to the 
west of the Euphrates; the former was again divided into 
fifteen provinces. But at the time of its greatest extent 
and power — when its people were great and its kings were 
great, long before Alexander's conquest — Armenia covered 
about 500,000 square miles, and stretched from the Black 
sea and the Caucasus on the north to Persia, and Syria on 
the south; from the Caspian and a much smaller Persia on 
the east, to Cilicia and far beyond the Holys (Kizil Irmak) 
on the west, but also including old Midia. 

Armenia is a highland from 4,000 to 7,000 feet above 
the level of the sea. Its surface is undulating, with beauti- 
ful dells and hills, with fertile valleys and forest-covered 
mountains, with fecundant and extensive plains and pasture 
lands, and lofty snow-capped moimtains with glittering snowy 
peaks piercing the clear, blue sky. The highest mountain of 
Western Asia is situated at the centre of Armenia. It is 
Mount Masis of the natives, and Mount Ararat of the Euro- 
peans, which is of unsurpassing beaut}:-, magnificance and 



♦Pliny agrees with the Armenian historians in bringing the eastern 
boundary to the Caspian sea, and Herodotus makes Armenia border on Cap- 
padocia and Cilicia on the west, stating that "this stream (the Holy river) 
rises in the mountainous country of Armenia." 



20 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

grandeur. No traveller has yet ever seen it and not spoken 
of it in admiration. 'The impression made by Ararat upon 
the mind of every one who has any sensibility of the stupen- 
dous works of the Creator, is wonderful and overpowering; 
and many a traveller of genius and taste has employed both 
the power of the pen and of the pencil in attempting to por- 
trav this impression. But the consciousness that no descrip- 
tion, no representation can reach the sublimity of the object 
thus attempted to be depicted, must prove to the candid mind, 
that, whether we address the ear or eye, it is difhcult to avoid 
the poetic in expression and the exaggerated in form, and 
confine ourselves strictly within the bounds of consistency 
and truth.'^ 

"Nothing can be more beautiful than its shape, more 
awful than its height. All the surrounding mountains sink 
into insignificance when compared to it. It is perfect in all 
its parts; no hard, rugged feature, no unnatural promi- 
nence; everything is in harmony, and all combined* to render 
it one of the sublimest objects in nature." 

Mount Masis or Ararat is situated on the wide and fertile 
plain, which is watered by the Araxes with its tributaries. 
This river traverses the plain, running on the north of the 
mountain, and fertilizes the plain which it dotted by numer- 
ous villages. This plain is, in fact, a plateau about 7,000 
feet above the level of the sea. The mountain still rises 
over 10,000 feet higher than the plain, thus making its total 
height over 17,000 feet from the sea level. It is, therefore, 
perpetually covered with snow ice that dazzles in splendor 
the eyes of the spectators.* 

Mount Ararat and other mountains have been visited at 
times by violent earthquakes and eruptions. Though Mount 
Masis itself is formed of volcanic rocks, no record of its vol- 
canic activities is preserved for us by the ancients. How- 

*Sir Layerd saw the mountain from a distance of about 145 miles on 
the south side of it; and a German traveller from the Caucasian mountains 
on the north, a distance of 150 miles. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 21 

ever, a German traveller makes mention of his seeing a ter- 
rifying sight more than a century ago; and says, "Some dis- 
tant southern volcanoes, or Ararat itself (the terrible gorge 
of which, distant from Caucasus in a straight line 150 miles, 
one can hardly look at without shuddering; and which, on 
the 13th of January and 22d of February, 1783, began again 
to throw out smoke and fire) must have burned the top of 
Caucasus, and thrown upon it those mineral ashes." 

In the year 1840, on the 20th of June, a terrible earth- 
quake shook the foundation of the mighty mountain. The 
monastery of St. James and the villages of Aicuri were buried 
in the ruins; and the inhabitants of the villages, about one 
thousands in number, were buried alive. The towns of 
Nakhjevan and Erevan did not escape the calamity. In both 
of these towns hundreds of houses were thrown down; 
and thousands of human beings, unexpectedly, within a few 
minutes were swept out of their earthly existence. 

Undoubtedly such calamities must have been repeated 
in the past; but we are not informed concerning them by 
the ancient visitors. But sad it is still to hear such news as 
the following: 

"Paris, May 17th, (1891), The Dix Neuwine Sircle, 
states that commercial advices have been received at Mar- 
seilles from Trebizond to the effect that a new volcano has 
appeared in Armenia at the summit of Mount Nimrod, in 
the District of Van, vomiting forth flames and lava. The 
villages at the base of the mountain have been destroyed, 
and many persons are said to have been killed or injured. 
The fugitives are camping outside the range of destruction. 
They are almost entirely destitute, and the greatest misery 
prevails among them." 

The earliest name of Armenia, by which it was known 
to the ancient Hebrew and Assyrian writers, was Ararat. 
We are told, in connection with the Deluge, that when the 
waters of the great flood subsided, "the ark" of Noah "rested 
upon the mountains of Ararat." The language of the Bible 



22 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

is both accLirate and precise: — not upon Mount Ararat, as 
it is generally and incorrectly said and written by many — but 
upon the mountains of Ararat. 

The author of the book of Genesis is accurate in his ex- 
pression and precise in his knowledge of the fact that Ararat 
is the name of the country upon whose mountains the tm- 
pest-tossed vessel of the patriarch rested. Whether his 
knowledge was the result of Divine inspiration, or is a his- 
torical fact, preserved and handed down to the authors time, 
wx cannot tell. The accuracy of the statement, however, 
which stood the criticisms of centuries, and especially this 
age of criticism, has a rightful claim to its acceptance by all. 

The following is a specimen of such absurdities and 
blunders so often ignorantly, or by carelessness, committed. 

A traveller, well known in this countr}^, writes to one 
of the daily papers as follows: "At daylight we were in a 
broad flat valley, lying between the greater and the lesser 
Caucasus. The latter, to our south, lifted not far of¥, from 
twelve to fifteen thousand feet, and were clothed in snow. 
In the far distance were others. I saw a sharp, conical 
burnished peak, which I took to be Ararat. I could not help 
thinking what a hard time the mighty line of living things 
had when marching by twos, male and female,, from those 
cold, bleak heights down into the plains below% after the 
great flood had subsided; and what a time good old Noah 
must have had to keep some of his warm-blooded pets from 
freezing on that lofty sixteen-thousand-feet-high pinnacle. 
What a pity our theologians do not boldly preach that the 
Bible is a mighty system of truth, but that its truths came 
to us clothed in Oriental legend and fable: — that the truth 
is there, pure and undefiled, as the grain is pure and uncon- 
taminated by the chafif in which it is housed, instead of try- 
ing to make a reasoning world swallow the chaff for solid 
kernels." 

Undoubtedly our honorable traveller will claim to belong 
to that "reasoning world" of which he speaks. But if all 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 23 

who make up that "reasoning world" will reason as he does, 
namely, take that erroneous expression of the common peo- 
ple, and call that highest mountain peak — which is over sev- 
enteen thousand feet from the sea level — Mount Ararat, and 
add to this error, or comparatively modern designation, 
another, namely, that the ark of Xoah rested upon this moun- 
tain; then turn around and condemn the Bible as an "Orien- 
tal legend and fable," it must be said that this kind of "rea- 
soning" of the so-called "reasoning world," is absurdity, and 
not reasoning at all. 

Ararat is mentioned in three other books of the Old 
Testament, beside the above, in connection with the flood: 
2 Kings xix: 37; Isaiah xxxvii: 38: and Jeremiah li: 27. 
None of these passages speak of it as a mountain, but as a 
country. The first two passages, identical in import, speak 
of the escape of Adrammelch Sharezer "into the land of 
Ararat," after having committed the crime of assassinating 
their own father, Sennacherib. 

The prophet Jeremiah summons the forces of Armenia 
to combine with the Medes to overthrow Babylon, in these 
words: 

"Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trum- 
pet among the nations, prepare the nations against her 
(Babylon); call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, 
Minni and Ashchenaz. 

"Prepare against her the nation with the things of the 
Medes." Li: 27, 28. 

The following is from an inscription of Assur-Natsir- 
Pal, the King of Assyria; and the date of his reign is assigned 
by Professor Sayee, from B. C. 883 to B. C. 858. 

"The cities of Khatu, Khartaru, Nestum, Irbiri, Mitqia, 
Arzonia, Tela (and) Khalua, the cities of Qurkhi, which in 
sight of the mountains of U'su, Arua (and) Arardhi mightv 
mountains are situated, I captured." Professor Sayee 
remarks that "Arardhi seems to be the earliest form of Arar- 



24 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

dher (of later Assyrian inscription), the Biblican Ararat." 
(Records of the Past, Vol. 2, page 140.) 

These passages from the Bible and the Assyrian inscrip- 
tion, show, beyond doubt, that Ararat was the earliest name 
of Armenia, and it was not the name of mountain; and 
finally, that the ark of Noah rested upon the mountains of 
Ararat or Armenia. Thus the history of the human race 
began anew from the land of Ararat. 

11. It has been said that the great rivers of Western Asia 
take their origin from the highlands of Armenia: Euphrates, 
Tigris, Pison, Araxes and many others from the jewels of 
her crown. These rivers penetrate to every corner of the land, 
traverse many hundreds of miles to give life to the field, the 
vineyards and the orchards, to turn the mills. The river 
Acampus of the ancients identified by some with the Pison 
of the Bible, has its sources from the southeast of Erzurun. 
It receives several streams and with beautiful winding flows 
into the Black Sea. About the Arapes, according to some 
the Gihon of the Bible, there is an interesting statement in 
an Armenian history. "Aramais (King of Armenia) built a 
city of hewn stone on a small eminence in the plain of Ara- 
gay, and near the bank of ariverbefore mentioned, which 
had received the name of Gihon. 

The new city, which afterwards became the capitol of 
his Kingdom he called Armatvir after his name, and the 
name of the river he changed to Arat, after his son Arast," 

The river Arakes is fed and swollen by many streams, 
rivulets and brooks, which run from the sides of numerous 
glens, through picturesque ravines, and mingle with it. 
Along its tortuous course it carries a great fertility, and finally 
mingles with no less than the* famous river Cyrus (Ker) and 
pours itself into the bosom of the Caspian Sea. 

The two rivers of Armenia are the Euphrates, and Tigris, 
whose identity with those mentioned in connection with the 
Garden of Eden is beyond doubt. Both of these rivers take 
their origin from the highlands of Armenia. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 2$ 

The Euphrates from the springs, which are not very far 
from Mount Misis (Ararat so-called), takes a westward course 
along the Taurus mountain chain on the northern side 
of the mountain. Near Alalatiyeh the river turns towards 
the southeast and approaches the source of the Tigris, but 
within a few miles distance. From this point onward, with 
a southeasterly course, these rivers flow and finally they unite 
and pour into the Persian Gulf. 

The student of the ancient Babylonian and Assyrian 
history and civilization knows what fertility these rivers car- 
ried along their course through the Mesopotamian plain and 
hold with numerous canals and channels, they irrigated the 
land of the Great Empires and became the means of commer- 
cial intercourse with the neighboring nations. 

The claim of Armenia to the possession within its 
bosom of the Garden of Eden ought not to disputed. No 
country, indeed, has attempted to contend with Armenia for 
this honor. Her natural beauty, salubrious climate, her 
exuberant fertility, the fragrance of her flowers, the variety 
of her singing birds, above all her mountainous bosom and 
overflowing breasts from which the mighty water run down 
on her sides and fill the great channels of those rivers which 
fertilize the subjacent counties and replenish the three ad- 
jacent seas, all these do justify her claim and render it 
almost a historical fact that Armenia was the cradle of infant 
humanity. "Ancient traditions place the province of Eden 
in the highest portion of Armenia, anciently called Ararat, 
and it appears to furnish all the conditions of the Mosaic 
narrative." 

If variety makes beauty, Armenia furnishes such a va- 
riety, making her one of the finest countries in the world; 
not only has she those gigantic mountains with their snow- 
crowned heads looking down upon the clouds that envelop 
their skirts while they mock the ambient air and the wind, 
not onlv has she hundreds of murmuring streams and rip- 
pling brooks gliding along the sides of thousands of hills 



26 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

which swell those kingly rivers and cause them to overflow 
their banks, but, she also has some beautiful lakes, like jew- 
els set in their respective caskets. The lake of Sevan, which 
lies between the Arapes and the Cyrus rivers, occupying the 
centre of a fertile plain of the northern part of Armenia, is 
called "Street lake," in contradistinction to the others, which 
are salt-water lakes. Lake Sevan, near the city of 
Erevan, is now in the Russian provinces of Armenia. The 
lake of Ormi or Orumiah, Hes in the southern part of the 
country, now in the provinces of Armenia. 

These lakes and some others are surrounded by roman- 
tic views and poetic scenery, but the lake of Van, surpass- 
ing them in size, in importance, and splendor, causes us with 
her to linger a little longer. 

The area of Lake Van is about fourteen hundred square 
miles, its surface is over five thousand feet high above the 
sea. It is embosomed at the centre of a verdant and rich 
plain, which plain also is encircled by an exceedingly beau- 
tiful, romantic, undulating mountain chain, which culminates 
on the north in the sublime monarch of mountain of West- 
ern Asia, Mount Massis (Ararat). 

The beauty of Lake Van and its surroundings always 
did and will more intensely enchant the poets and artists 
who are more fortunate and enjoy the beauty of nature more 
than the rest of us. The following is the language of a dis- 
tinguished explorer: "A range of low hills now separated 
us from the plain and lake of Van. We soon reached their 
crest and a landscape of surpassing beauty was before us. 
At our feet, intensely blue, and sparkling in the rays of the 
sun, was the inland sea, with sublime peak of the Subbon 
Dagh (Mountain) mirrored in its transparent v/aters. The 
city (of Van) with its castle-crowned rock and its embattled 
walls and towers lay embowered in orchards and gardens. 
To our right a rugged snow-capped mountain opened mid- 
way into an ampitheatre in which amid lofty trees stood the 
Armenian Convent of Seven Churchs. To the west of the 



AND THE ARMENIANS. Z'J 

lake was the Nimrod Dagh, and the highlands nourishing 
the sources of the great rivers of Mesopotamia, the hills 
forming the foreground of our picture were carpeted with 
brightest flowers, over which wandered the flocks, while the 
gaily dressed shepherds gathered around us as we halted to 
contemplate the enchanting scene."* 

Many a scene like the above has enchanted the foreign 
traveler and inspired the native authors and poets, and 
caused the wandering, expatriated sons and daughters of 
Armenia to remember her former majestic beaut}^ and splen- 
dor, but marred by the vicissitudes of the ages and especially 
under the iron heel of the present tyrant, her indescribable 
misery, and weep like Jeremiah, "Mine eye runneth down 
with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my 
people." (Lamentations, 3-48.) 

III. The climate of Armenia is the very healthiest in the 
world; I do not say one of the healthiest, but the very 
healthiest. The climate is excellent all the year round, and 
though the winters are severe and much of the country is 
covered with snow, yet on account of the elevation, which is 
from four thousand to seven thousand feet above the level 
of the sea, and in latitude 35° to 42°, or say from North 
Carolina to Massachusetts. It might easily have been under- 
stood that the climate of Armenia cannot be mild in winter, 
on account of the altitude of the country, which is from four 
thousand to seven thousand feet above the level of the sea. 

In general it is very healthy, but in winter the cold is 
severe, and it lasts from the middle of October until the be- 
ginning of May. But the air is dry, pure and agreeable always 
in the whole year, a preventative of disease, and conducive 
to languity. The dread disease, consumption, does not ex- 
ist there, while dyspeptics, if any are to be found, must have 
been imported. The perfect type of physical vigor is to be 
seen there. 

In the valleys the weather is a good deal milder and very 

*Layard's " Nineveh and Babylon," pages 333-4. 



28 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

pleasant. The summer is short, but warm and dry; this 
especially is so in certain valleys, which are far away from 
the reach of the sea breeze, too much enclosed by high moun- 
tains and too deep for the mountain breeeze, for neither is it 
uniformly long, nor is the degree of warm weather the same 
all over the country. Generally the people of Armenia in 
all the ages are tall, powerful, ruddy cheeked, full of endur- 
ance and energy, shrewd and honest too. They are longer 
lived than any other people of countries. I know a good 
many people in Armenia lived from 80 to 125 years of age. 
They are full of life and they are greatly enjoyed in that 
country. The most of the American missionaries in Armenia 
would be sure to echo these words. A returned missionary 
gave a striking testimony to this effect. He was addressing 
and lecturing in this country as follows: — "Before 
I became a missionary, I had very poor health; most of my 
family died of hereditary consumption, and I was attacked by 
it. My house physicians strongly protested against my be- 
coming a missionary, saying that if I went to a foreign land 
I would grow worse, and probably die there, but I paid no at- 
tention to this; I presumed they were right, but I was deter- 
mined to go anyway, and if I must die, to die in my chosen 
work. When I offered myself to the American Board, I was 
allotted to Armenia, and thither I went. M)^ disease disap- 
peared and now I am as healthy as any missionary in the world. 
You see how stout and vigorous I look, and I do not expect 
to die soon. But I feel sure that if I had stayed in America to 
save my life, I should have lost it before this time." He is still 
living in Armenia, and I hope will live to be over a hundred, 
as many of the natives do there. 

The reader will smile at all this as the patriotic boastful- 
ness of an Armenian, and say, perhaps, that he can make as 
fabulous declarations for his land, wherever he may be; but 
such claims cannot be substantiated by records and personal 
observations as these for Armenia can. Take the Bible; some 
of the patriarchs lived to be 600, 700, 800 — one even 969 ; if in- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 29 

deed he ever died a natural death; some were taken up to heaven 
without knowing death; and all these long lives, as will be 
shown, were lived in Armenia. God's judgment was good. 
He did not create man in America, Europe, or India, or any- 
where but in Armenia. He came down there from 
Heaven, planted the Garden of Eden there, and from the dust 
of that land created the first man. When the race had become 
sinful and only Noah's family were preserved, the ark was not 
brought to rest on the Rockies, the Alps, or the Himalayas, 
but on Ararat in Armenia. 

The natural resources in Armenia are very rich. 
The mineral wealth of Armenia is very great; but like the 
other potential riches of the Turkish Empire, it profits nobody, 
not even the greedy despot, whose word is death. Gold, sil- 
ver, copper, iron, and minor metals, besides marble and other 
beautiful stones, are present in abundance. 

The reader might well have anticipated that a mountain- 
ous country might possess some other valuable things beneath 
the surface. Such an anticipation is decidedly justifiable 
when we remember the fact that the mines of Armenia are 
rich, numerous and varied. 

Traces of old gold mines are found midway between 
Trebizond and Erzerum. Some even think that the locality 
of *'Ophir," from whence King Solomon fetched gold to decor- 
ate the temple, was in this region. It may be interesting to 
some to mention that the ancient river Acampsis, identified by 
some with the Pisom of the Bible, "which compasseth the 
whole land of Havilah, where there is gold," does really run 
through this part of the country. About three miles from 
Marsahan is a mountain caller Tarshan Dagh (rabbit moun- 
tain), rich in gold; another in central Turkey is a mountain 
called Baalgar Dagh, among the Taurus mountains very 
rich in gold and many years since, are used by Turkish Em- 
pire. 

There are very rich silver and copper mines in the vicinity 
of Harput (Harpoot), the copper mines alone annually yield 



30 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

two million two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. There 
are rare mines of sulphur, sulphuret of lead, antimony, and 
silver. The mines of iron and coal are found in abundance, 
but the coal mines are entirely neglected and the iron and 
other mines are very poorly operated. There is a little town 
situated among the Tauraus mountains called Zeitoon; about 
ten miles from Zeitoon is a mountain called Beraut Digh, 
rich in soft and abundant iron mines. The people of Zeitoon 
almost live through that iron mine. 

The mineral springs, hot and cold, at various places 
with their peculiar curative powers, have become the "Beth- 
esdes" of the invalids, and are frequented, like the places of 
pilgrimage, by those who suffer anyq ailment and are able to re- 
pair to such restorative resorts. Rock salt and salt springs 
also abound in Armenia. They are especially inexhaustible 
in the vicinity of Moosh. A salt stream, whose springs are 
from the salt rock, which would bring a good income in the 
hands of a wise governor, unprofitably flows into and mingles 
with the waters of the Euphrates. 

The country has all the old fertility which made Asia 
Minor under the Byzantine Empire the garden of the world, 
till the Turks half turned it into a desert, as they do every spot 
accursed by their presence. 

Such a variety of climate combined with a naturally fertile 
soil will produce a vegetation rich in quantity and splendid 
in quality. There are indeed, a very few large forest and 
timber lands left on account of their being inaccessible to the 
people and for want of good roads. The government is en- 
tirely indifterent, but in cultivating or protecting the people 
who would cultivate such forest trees for the two-fold use of 
them as timber and fuel. Consequently the people suffer very 
much for the want of these, especially is this true in certain dis- 
tricts. 

But such vegetations as wheat, barley, cotton, tobacco 
and grapes, and every kind of fruits are almost unexcelled in 
quality. The matermilons raised on the banks of the Eu- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 3I 

phrates and the Tigris are the largest and sweetest of their kind; 
two melons are sometimes a camel's load. It is impossible 
for a family to use the whole of such a melon, which has to be 
cut up and sold in pieces. The grapes, either fresh or in the 
shape of wine or raisins and dried as raisins exceed in size the 
plumpest grapes of other lands. Nearly everything is raised 
or grows wild in Armenia wdiich is to be had in the Northern 
or Southern States of America, though of course, each country 
has some things peculiar to itself. The products of the North 
are paralleled by those of the rugged picturesque highlands of 
North Turkish and Russian Armenia, with their cold snowy 
winters, short, hot summer, and mild intervening season ; those 
of the South find their counterparts from the rich upland val- 
leys, or the lowlands plains needing irrigation, of Kurdistan and 
Persian Armenia, with its semi-tropical climate, and alterna- 
tions of wet and dry seasons. The Indian corn and oats and 
rice are raised, and sugar is made in the Persian port. In the 
fields and gardens you can find not only the wonderful mel- 
ons I have just spoken of, but pumpkins and squashes, lettuce 
and egg plant, and indeed most of the vegetables that come 
to an American table. As to fruits, all that you know we 
know also, only of finer flavors. Asia Minor is the original 
home of the cjuince, the apricot, and the nectarine, and I be- 
lieve of the peach too ; while our apples, pears, and plurns are 
incomparable, the muscot apple of Amassea are exceptional 
even there. After eating them, one hardly wonders that 
Adam and Eve could not resist the temptation of doing the 
same, at the cost of innocence and Eden. The pears of Mal- 
atiah keep them company ; and the quince grows sometimes as 
large as a man's head. Another fruit equally important is the 
mulberry for silk-worms. The olive andfig are cultivated and 
also grow wild, and filberts and walnuts can be gathered any- 
where in the woods, as well as orchards; of course not the 
American ''hickory nuts," but the "English walnuts" of the 
groceries. 

The fertility of the country is unquestionable when we 



32 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

remember the fact, that not only the country is very old and 
therefore more or less would naturally decline in its produc- 
tivity, but the method of cultivation itself is also very 
old, started by Adam, Noah and Abraham, and their 
immediate descendants, compelled by the necessities of hfe. 

It has been said ancient traditions place the province of 
Eden in Armenia, Such a statement itself might have aroused 
an expectation in the mind of the reader to know something 
about the environment and conditions which will give a parad- 
isaical aspect to a place. The flowers of Armenia will, not 
a little, contribute to this aspect, which, though growing wild 
and uncultivated, are of rare beauty, fragrance and hue, and 
hardly known to the Europeans and American. Though one 
of them has a Latin scientific name, no plant of it has ever 
been in Europe, and by no manner of contrivance could we 
succeed in carrying one away. This most beautiful produc- 
tion was called in Latin bananea, or philipea coccinea, a para- 
site on absinthe or wormwood. This is the most beautiful 
flower conceivable; it is in the form of a lily, about nine to 
tw^elve inches long, including the stalk; the flower and the 
stalk and all the parts of it resemble crimson velvet; it has 
no leaves; it is found on the side of the mountains near 
Erzerum, often in company with Morans orentalis, a remark- 
able kind of thistle with flowers all up the stalk, looking and 
smelling like the honeysuckle. An iris of a most beautiful 
flaming yellow is found among the rocks, and it, as well as 
all the more beautiful flowers, blooms in the spring, soon after 
the melting of the snow. 

In regard to the singing birds of Armenia we do not 
attempt to say much, but undoubtedly must they have per- 
formed a noble service, by their melodious music in that great 
assembly of all creation, gathered to witness the nuptials of 
our innocent parents. 

Many of the children of Adam and Eve even now do not 
have any other musicians than the same. The birds in general 
are numerous, belonging to various tribes, "which," says the 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 33 

author above quoted, ''in thousands and milHons, would re- 
ward the toil of the sportsman and the naturalist on the plains 
and mountains of the highland of Armenia." 

Nothing was more delightful and amusing to the writer, 
when a child, than to watch the armies of birds flying towards 
the north with spring, or south in the autumn in a beautiful 
array, led by a general, as it were, until they were lost out of 
sight in the clear and bright Oriental sky ; nor even now would 
it give him little delight, if it were possible, to retire into one 
of those solitary watchmen's cottages in the vineyards and or- 
chards of the East and listen to the most melodious anthems 
of those songsters, who were then, it seems to him now, vying 
more with each other to render their praises acceptable to 
their Creator than many of our noted singers in the magnifi- 
cent churches and cathedrals. 

The animals that are generally found in a temperate 
climate like the climate of the Northern states are also com- 
mon in Armenia. In the days of old the Armenian horses 
were as famous as are the Arabian horses now. The rich 
pastures of Media and Armenia furnished excellent horses 
for the Medo-Persian army. See also (Ezekiel xxvii, 14). 

According to the rule of Sultan Hamid 11. there is no 
land of Armenia at all in that district. 

The present Sultan forbids the use of the name altogether, 
and insists on the district being termed Kurdistan, or called 
by the names of its vilayets, Diarbekr, Van, Erzroom, Harpoot, 
etc. Many maps do not have the name Armenia at all. But 
the reader knows and we know the name of Armenia has been 
used more than four thousand years to that district ; at the same 
time some of the ancient cities of Armenia are still in existence, 
however, not in their former magnificence, and some are in 
complete ruins. 

Among the former, Van, Amid, now Diarbekr, Erevan, 
Malatiyeh, Palu, and Manazghert misfht be mentioned; among 
the latter, Armavir, Ardashad, \^alarshabad, Dicranaghert, Ani 
and others are mentioned. There are vet other cities, some of 



34 . ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

them not of equal antiquity with some of the above named, 
but of great importance, both in the past and in the present 
time. These are Kars, Erzroom, or Erzerum, Moosh, BitHs, 
and Karpert (Harpoot). 

The ancient Armenia is now divided among three powers : 
The northern part, from Botoum on the Black Sea to Baker on 
the Caspian — the river Araxes being the boundary to near 
Mt. Ararat — belong to Russia; the southeastern course of the 
river of Araxes from near Mt. Ararat to Persia. The western 
from Mt. Ararat to the Black Sea and the Kizil-Irmak and the 
whole western part of Asia Minor, which is larger than the 
other two, is under the Turkish Empire, consequently some of 
the cities mentioned above are in the Russian provinces of 
Armenia, but the most of them are in Turkish Armenia. 

The English traveler, Sandys, who visited the Turkish 
Empire over two centuries and a half ago, has described with 
truth and eloquence the unhappy condition of the regions sub- 
ject to its destructive despotism in the following words: 

These countries, once so glorious and famous for their 
happy estate, are now, through vice and ingratitude, become 
the most deplorable spectacles of extreme misery. The wild 
beasts of mankind have broken in upon them and rooted out 
all civility; and the pride of a stern and barbarous tyrant, pos- 
sessing the thrones of ancient dominion, who aims only at the 
height of. greatness and sensuality, hath reduced so great and 
goodly a part of the world to that lamentable distress and ser- 
vitude under which it now faints and groans, those rich lands 
at this present time remain waste and overgrown with bushes, 
and receptacles of wild beasts, of thieves and murderers; large 
territories dispeopled or thinly inhabited; goodly cities made 
desolate, sumptuous buildings became ruins, glorious temples, 
either subverted or prostituted to impiety; true religion dis- 
countenanced and opposed; all nobility extinguished, no light 
of learning permitted, no virtue cherished; violence and rapine 
exulting over all, and leaving no security, save an abject mind 
and unlooked for poverty." 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 35 

What an immense wealth yet hes in the entrails of Armenia; 
a ruler that loves the well-being of his subject, and loves to 
know both the condition of the country and of the people, in- 
stead of struggling for existence in extreme poverty would 
render both his government wealthy and his people happy, 
having in possession such a country as Armenia and other 
parts of the empire. But Turkish rulers have been destitute 
in prudence and have gloried in cruelty, deceitfulness and ex- 
action. Had the long expected and delusively-promised re- 
forms of the Turkish government been fulfilled, then would 
we have unfolded this wealth to the world. 

Several years ago, when the missionaries of the American 
Board were organizing the college for the education of the 
Armenian young people at Harpoot, now so bloodily famous, 
they named it Armenia college; but the present sultan for- 
bade it on the ground that there was no longer an Armenia, 
and the use of the name would encourage the Armenians to 
revolt. The missionaries were forced to change the name to 
Euphrates college. If any Turkish subject uses the word of 
Armenia he is fined and imprisoned; if it is used in any book 
the book is confiscated and the author banished or killed. The 
study of Armenian history is forbidden to the Armenians; 
they must be kept in ignorance about their own land so that 
many of them do not know where Armenia was or what Ar- 
menia is. A letter directed to any person or place in Ar- 
menia will never reach its destination; for the Turkish postal 
authorities recognize no such address. There is still another 
cause for the widespread ignorance concerning Armenia. 
These are the unhappy eiTects of the Turkish Empire on these 
once so glorious and famous countries, and after two cen- 
turies and a half this description is still literally true. 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE ORIGIN OF ARMENIANS WHO ARE THE ARMENIANS? 

The primal origin of the Armenians will be found in the 
Scriptures of Genesis x, 3-10: from Togarmah. Among the 
Armenian writers, calling the people by the appellation of 
"Togarmah Doon, the house of Togarmah," as also by the 
prophet Ezekiel xxvii., 14, was and still is very common. 

Togarmah, the son of Gomer, th^ son of Japheth, the son 
of Noah. 

The prophet Ezekiel mentions this name twice, not as a 
mere name of the patriarch, but as a nation descended from 
him, and known by the appellation, "of the house of Togar- 
mah." The prophet does this in connection with other names 
as representatives of different nations. The third son of 
Gomer is Togarmah; the people descending from him are 
call "the house of Togarmah," Ezekiel xxvii., 14, where they 
are named after Javan, Tubal and Meshech, as bringing 
horses and mules to the mart of Tyre; and xxxviii., 6, where it 
appears after Gomer as a component of the army of Gog. 

Togarmah had a son named Haig or Haik, as the ances- 
tor of the Armenians, and they call themselves "Haikian" or 
"Haigazian" from him; and the land of Armenia is called 
"Haiasdan" or "the land of Haik." 

"Togarmah," the people thus designated, are mentioned 
by the prophet Ezekiel. In the former passage as trading in the 
fairs of Tyre with horses and mules; in the latter, as about to 
come with Gomer out at the north quarter against Palestine. 
Neither passage does much towards fixing a locality, but both 
agree with the hypothesis, which has the support alike of ety- 
mology and of national tradition, that the people intended are 




Of J\fK^^ 
DYNASTY OF ARMENIAN FLAGS. 




HAIK. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 37 

the ancient inhabitants at Armenia. Grimm's view that Togar- 
niah is composed of t\vo elements, "Taka," which, in Sanskrit, 
is "tribe," or "race," and "Armah," (Armenia), may well be ac- 
cepted. The Armenian tradition which derived the Haikian 
race from Torgom, as it can scarcely be a coincidence, must 
be regarded as having considerable value. Now, the existing 
Armenians, the legitimate descendants of those who occupied 
the country in the time of Ezekiel, speak a language which 
modern ethnologists pronounce to be decidedly Indo-Euro- 
pean; and thus, so far, the modern science confirms the Scrip- 
tural account. 

Haik, the son of Torgarmah, like the rest of the descend- 
ants of Noah, was in pursuit of a new location for himself and 
his posterity, and had descended with the multitude into the 
country of Shinar of Mesopotamia. Here the people, for fear of 
another destructive flood, attempted to build a high tower, "the 
Tower of Babel." Haik and his sons distinguished them- 
selves by wisdom and virtue in the erection of this tower; but 
ambitious Belus for supremacy, yea even requiring homage to 
him image, became too repulsive to virtuous Haik and his 
sons. Haik therefore left the plains of Shinar with his large 
family and returned to the home of his nativity, the land of 
Ararat, in the vicinity of the lake of Van; or the plain of Moosh. 
Belus, on hearing that Haik had withdrawn from his author- 
ity, pursued him w^ith a large force. Haik, when he heard that 
Belus was coming against him, mustered the male members 
of his family and those who were willingly under his author- 
ity, armed them as well as he was able and set out to meet the 
enemy. He charged his little army to attack that part of the 
enemy's force where Belus commanded in person, "for," said 
he, "if we succeed in discomfiting that part the victory is ours; 
should we, however, be unsuccessful in our attempt, let us 
never survive the misery and disgrace of a defeat, but rather 
perish, sword in hand, defending the best and dearest right of 
reasonable creatures — our liberty." Then did the brave leader 
move on with his force, and faced the invaders. After a bloodv 



38 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

conflict Belus fell by an arrow discharged at him by Haik, 
The army of Belus, soon after this, was dispersed. 

Haik was a powerful warrior, and the founder of the Ar- 
menian kingdom, which began 2350 B. C, and ended with 
Levan VL, 1375 A. D., thus lasting 3,725 years, though with 
intervals of extinction. Their own kings did not always reign 
in Armenia. Sometimes other nations ruled over it by way of 
compensation ; sometimes the Armenians ruled over other na- 
tions. The people never call themselves Armenians, or their 
coimtry Armenia; they use the name simply for the sake of 
foreigners. The Armenians, therefore, call themselves after his 
name, "Haik," and the country "Hayasan." 

Haik, following the manner of the ancient patriarchs, 
founded towns and villages, and after a long life died in peace. 
Whatever its origin, it is certain that the Armenians are a very 
ancient nation, as ancient as the Assyrians or Persians. [I have 
seen an article upon this question in the 'Independent" of 
March 5, 1896, which was written by Rev. James D. Barton, 
D. D., secretary of the American Board. I would like to ask 
from the author the privilege of using that article as follows in 
my pamphlet. — The Author.] 

According to Armenian histories, the first chief of the 
Armenians was Haik, the son of Togarmah, the son of Gomer, 
the son of Japheth, the son of Noah. It is an interesting fact 
that the Armenians to this day call themselves Haik, their lan- 
guage, "Haiaren," and their country, "Haiasdan." "Armenia" 
and "Armenian" are words which cannot be spelled with Ar- 
menian characters or easily pronounced by that people. That 
name was given them and their country by outside nations, be- 
cause of the prowess of one of their kings, Aram, the seventh 
from Haik. Probably this people are the resultant of strong 
Aryan tribes overrunning and conquering the country now 
occupied by the Armenians, and which was then possessed by 
primitive Turanian populations. Subject to the vicissitudes of 
concjuest and invasion, the borders of Armenia have fluctu- 
ated. Lake Van has always been within the kingdom, and the 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 



39 



capital has usually remained during their highest prosperity at 
the city of \"an. They have had a long line of kings of valor 
. and renown. They were an independent nation, but with vary- 
ing degrees of power, until A. D. 1375, when they became com- 
pletely a subject people. Since that time their country has 
been under the government of Russia, Persia, or Turkey, far 
the larger portion being under Turkey. During the years of 
their greatest prosperity, from 600 B. C. to about 400 A. D., 
this nation played a prominent part in the wars of the Assyrians, 
Aledes, Persians, Greeks and Romans. 

There are, perhaps, from two and a half to three millions of 
Armenians in Turkey, Russia and Persia. In the absence of 
accurate records we must be content with a mere estimate, 
based upon observations and inadequate government returns. 
In an extended district they comprise a majority of the inhabi- 
tants. They are everywhere mingled with and surrounded bv 
Kurds and Turks. The Armenians are forbidden to carry or 
possess arms, under severe penalties, where the other races are 
armed, many of them by the government. Armenian histories 
relate that soon after the resurrection of Christ, Abgar, the King 
of Armenia, with his court, accepted Christianitv. This was 
short lived, however; but in the third century A. D., under the 
leadership of Gregory the Illuminator, the Armenian people as 
a nation became Christian. This was the first nation to adopt 
Christianit}' as a national religion. The church was called 
"Gregorian" by those outside, but "Loosavorchagan" by the 
Armenians, the word meaning, 'Tlluminator," the name given 
to Gregory. The Gregorians and Greeks worked in harmonv 
in the great councils of the Church until 451. At the fourth 
Ecumenical Council, which met at Chalcedon that year, the 
Gregorian church separated from the Greek upon the so-called 
Monophysite doctrine, the former accepting and the latter re- 
jecting it. Since then the Gregorian church has been distinctly 
and exclusively an Armenian national church. 

The organization and control of the church is essentially 
Episcopal. The spiriti^-^^ head is a catholicos; Init in addition to 



40 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

him there is a patriarch, whose office bears largely upon the 
political side of the national life, as related to the Ottoman gov- 
ernment. There are three of the former, residing in order of 
their importance at Echmiazin, in Russia; at Aghtamar, on 
an island in Lake Van; and at Sis, in Cilicia, each with his own 
diocese. There are two of the patriarchs, residing at Constan- 
tinople and Jerusalem. There are nine grades of Armenian 
clergy. The Bible was translated into their language in the 
middle of the fifth century. Owing to a change in the spoken 
tongue, the Bible became a dead book to the people, although 
it was constantly read at their church services. As the priests 
scarcely ever understood the Scripture which they read, Chris- 
tian doctrines were kept alive by oral teachings; but the re- 
straint upon life which pure Christianity exercises was largely 
removed. They blindly accept the Bible as the w^ord of God. 
They have many large and fine churches, some of which are 
several hundred years old. This nation has suffered great per- 
secutions for its faith during the last eleven centuries ; but widi 
wonderful patience and endurance has clung to the old beliefs 
and forms of worship. 

Mission work was begun among them for the purpose of 
introducing into the church the Bible in the spoken language of 
the people, in order that its teachings might reform the church 
and the nation. The Armenian nature is essentially religious. 
Born into the church, its customs, traditions and teachings have 
large influence over the life. Although much of their teaching 
and many of their customs are based upon mere traditions, and 
are not in accord with the enlightened, educated Christianity of 
the west, nevertheless, the fact that during the last few months 
thousands among them have deliberately chosen death, with 
terrible torture, to life and Islam shows that among them there 
exists much essential Christian faith. It must not be over- 
looked that the old church has been greatly enlightened and ele- 
vated by the mission schools and colleges planted in their coun- 
try, and the evangelistic work carried on among them. They, 
too, in imitation of the evangelical branch of their nation, have 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 4I 

organized schools, accepted the Bible in the spoken language, 
and introduced into their church worship many of the methods 
of Christian instruction used by the Christian church all over 
the world. 

The Armenians' greatest enemy outside of Islam, is their 
incompatibility of character. They cannot agree among them- 
selves. '*Haik voch miapan'' (''Armenians cannot agree") is 
one of their many proverbs. This is their national weakness. 
Owing to this fact, w^hich led to internal jealousies and bicker- 
ings and strife during the period of their most successful na- 
tional life, they were weakened, then disrupted, and finally 
completely subjugated. This characteristic has constantly ap- 
peared in the management of their ecclesiastical affairs, and the 
Turks, in order to control them, have made great use of this 
weakness, playing one party ofif against another. The source 
of this national weakness lies in their jealousy of imagined or 
actual rivals. Suspicious of each other, and jealous of compe- 
tition, the race has been broken up into factions, which has 
rendered impossible anything like a national growth or unity, 
and has made it easy for the ruling Turk to keep them in com- 
plete subjection. Many times the Armenians themselves have 
been the most effective instrument in the hands of their diplo- 
matic rulers in checking national progress. Owing to this fact, 
if for no other reason, a plan for a general revolution upon the 
part of the Armenians could lead only to exposure and failure. 
The most intelligent have from the first fully understood this, 
and have deprecated any agitation which must necessarily end 
in disaster. The advocates of revolution have almost invariably 
been men of narrow views and no leadership in the nation at 
large, wdio have, outside of Turkey, organized rival societies to 
collect money from credulous Armenians to the credit of their 
own personal bank account, and for the injury of their protest- 
ing people in Turkey. This same characteristic would make it 
impossible to-day for the Armenians to be self-governing. 

The Armenians are the most intelligent of all the peoples 
of eastern Turkey. In western Turkey their only rivals are the 



42 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Greeks. They far outclass their Mohammedan rulers m the 
desire for general and liberal education, and in their ability to 
attain to genuine scholarship. During the last twenty years 
few institutions of higher education in the United States and in 
England have failed to have Armenians among their pupils, 
and the rank which they have usually taken is most creditable 
to the race. 

The popularity of Euphrates College, in Horput, and of 
Central Turkey Cohege, at Aintab, whose students are almost 
exclusively Armenians, as well as Anatolia College, at Marso- 
van, and Robert College, at Constantinople, which have many 
Armenians among their students, taken together with the fact 
that large sums are paid each year by the people for the educa- 
tion of their sons and daughters, all prove that in addition to 
the ability to advance mentally there is a strong desire upon 
the part of the Armenians for general enlightenment. Bi-lingual 
from childhood, and many of them tri-lingual, they learn lan- 
guages easily. Their general tendency is to prefer metaphysi- 
cal studies, being inchned rather to the speculative in their 
manner of thought. They have taken readily to the idea of 
female education, and the three colleges for girls in Turkey are 
among her most popular evangelical institutions. These are 
largely patronized by the Armenians. This nation has pro- 
duced many well-known scholars, which fact, taken together 
with the general high standard of scholarship among her stu- 
dents, and the eager desire prevalent among the people for a 
liberal education, shows that the race, intellectually, compares 
favorably with the most favored nations of the world. 

The Armenians are the farmers, artisans, tradesmen, and 
bankers of eastern Turkey. They have strong commercial in- 
stincts and mature ability, and being industrious withal have 
made much progress in all these lines. In spite of the heavy 
restrictions placed upon them by the Turkish government, in 
the form of general regulations and excessive taxes, in some 
parts of Turkey the leading business operations are largely in 
their hands. In some setions of the villages of Harput and 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 43 

Diarbekir, twenty-five years ago, the land was owned almost 
entirely by Moslems, but rented and farmed by the Armenians. 
At that time the Armenians were not permitted to possess, to 
any extent, the soil. Lack of industry upon the part of the 
Mohammedans, and the acquirement of property upon the part 
of the Armenians, largely by emigration to the United States, 
have led the Turks to sell their ancient estates to Armenians, 
who are supplied wdth funds from their friends who are working 
in this country. The careful management of the property thus 
acquired led to the advancement of the proprietor-farmer, while 
the one from whom the land was purchased was left without an 
income. 

While the Turks in many of the principal cities where 
Armenians dwell own most of the shops, the renters are largely 
Armenians, x^n intelligent Turkish governor once told the 
writer that if the Armenians should suddenly emigrate or be 
expelled from eastern Turkey, the ]\Ioslem would necessarily 
follow soon, as there was not enough commercial enterprise and 
ability, coupled w^th industry, in the population to meet the 
absolute needs of the people. 

The Armenian, while industrious and naturally inclined to 
follow in the footsteps of his father, takes very readily to a new 
trade. When emigrating to foreign countries, he easily adapts 
himself to his new surroundmgs, and does creditable service in 
almost any line of work. This adaptability, together with a 
tendency to hold on to a Ime once begun, has given a stable 
character to the nation. 

The Armenian is domestic in his habits and aspirations, 
and not military. In the early history of the race we do not 
find much writing of their conquests. They did not go outside 
of their borders, as a general thing, to conquer their neighbors. 
While not' lacking in physical courage and prowess in war 
when called to defend their country against invasion, they 
did not seek to conquer. Sometimes in driving back an ag- 
gressive foe they carried the war into his territory, and levied 
Upon it for injuries received. Yet it never seems to have been 



44 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

their ambition to be a great nation, ruling over conquered 
races. Their chief ambition appears to have been to possess in 
quiet their beloved fatherland, ''hairenik," where they might 
worship God according to the demands of their own national 
church. To-day they have no desire of conquest or ambition 
to rule. Their greatest wish is to be permitted to enjoy without 
fear the blessing of their simple domestic life, together with the 
privileges of worship and education, and the opporttmity to 
possess in peace the fruits of their frugal industry. The Ar- 
menian loves his children, and is most closely attached to his 
home. When he emigrates, it is only for the purpose of trade 
and gain. His heart's affection centres in the old home, to 
which he, if unprevented, will return to rejoin his loved ones. 
In all his native land the city or vihage of his birth is the spot 
on earth. 

The Armenians are most simple and frugal in their man- 
ner of hfe. Uncomplaining and generally cheerful, they con- 
tinue their occupations, following in the footsteps of their 
fathers without desire for change. The son of the carpenter is 
a carpenter, content with the adze and saw ; and the shoemaker 
sticks to his last without a thought of being anything else so 
long as that trade serves him. The home life is patriarchal, the 
father ruling the household, and the sons bringing their wives 
to the paternal roof. In the event of the death of the father, 
the eldest son takes his place at the head of the family. The 
aged are held in high esteem, and their counsel sought and 
honored. The women occupy inferior positions, the nation 
copying many customs in regard to them from the Turks 
among whom they live. They are not an immoral race, but are 
inclined to drink wine, which is a cheap product of their 
country. 

Thus we have a race old in national history when Alexan- 
der invaded the East, and Vv^ith its star of empire turning tow- 
ard decline when the Caesars were at the height of their power; 
a nation not mingling in marriage with men and women of 
another faith, with blood now as pure in its descent from the 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 45 

undiscovered ancestors of nearly three decades of centuries 
ago as the Hebrews stand unmixed with Gentile blood; with a 
language, a literature, a national church, distinctively its own; 
and yet a nation without a country, without a government, 
without a protector or a friend in all God's world. This is not 
because it has sinned, but because it has been terribly sinned 
against; not because of its intellectual or moral or physical 
weakness, but because it has little to offer in return for the 
service which the common brotherhood of man among nations 
should prompt the Christian nations of the world to render. 



THE STORY OF ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 

The First: The Haigazian, from 2350 to 328 B. C. 

The Armenian dynasties are divided into four special 
branches or periods. The first is the Haigazian dynasty. This 
dynasty began 2,350 years before Christ, and ended in the time 
of Alexander the Great, 328 B. C. No other recorded dynasty 
has so long an unbroken succession. As already mentioned, 
Haig was the founder of the Armenian kingdom. He can 
scarcely be called a King, because in his time there was not a 
great Armenian nation. It was rather a tribe, and Haig was 
chief or governor. His position was like that of Abraham, 
what would now be called a sheikh; and like Abraham he was 
a worshiper of the true God. 

Haig's son Armen succeeded his father, and greatly en- 
larged the kingdom. He subdued a large district northeast of 
]\Iount Ararat, and built a city and town of hewn stones there, 
near the banks of tlie rixer Araxes. He named the city after 
himself Armanir, and made it the capital of the government. 
It is most likely the name Armenia comes from him. Some re- 
cent foreign writers have the impudence to say that there was 
no such King, but that his name was made up to account for 
that of Armenia; but the same records which tell us of Haig 



46 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

tell US of his son. After Armen we find his son, Armaiss, was 
the successor of his father Armen, or Armenag. The son of 
Aramais was Amassia, who, soon after the decease of his father, 
took the lead of the government. Our historians tell us that it 
was Amassia who gave the name Masis, after himself, to that 
magnificent and huge mountain (Mount Ararat, so called). 
Harmah mounted the throne of his father Amassia after the 
latter's departure from this life. Aram, or Armanag, about 
2000 B. C, the son and successor of Harmah towers among the 
monarchs of the first period of the Armenian history. He was, 
like King David, a great warrior and conqueror. One of the 
notable Kings is Aram, the seventh in succession, and the 
greatest of Armenian conquerors. He raised and drilled an 
army of 50,000 men, whose efftciency and his own military skill 
and energy are proved by his invading and conquering Aledia. 
He then invaded Assyria, and conquered a part of that country. 
Next, he marched westward, and subjugated some of the east- 
ern portion of Asia Minor, inhabited by the Greeks. The latter, 
Cappadocia, along the Halys or Kizil-Irmak, Aram named the 
Hayasdan, translated by the Romans as "Armenia Minor," 
which, oddly enough, in later times became Greater Armenia, 
or Armenia proper. After the long and glorious reign of Aram, 
the country slowly came into a subordinate condition to the 
Assyrian empire, though the Kings of the Haikian dynasiy 
continued to rule over Armenia; but they were very much 
overshadowed when the Assyrian empire was at the zenith of 
her glory. 

It, however, should be understood that Armenia was not 
completely subjugated; for every ruler of a district was a King 
by himself, and on account of the inaccessibility of some dis- 
tricts an entire subjugation of a country like Armenia was an 
impossibility in those days. Tiglath-pileser L, the King of 
Assyria (11 10-1090 B. C.) unconsciously confesses in his famous 
inscription, which contains the most of his great achievements, 
that some of these districts never knew subjugation. 

The enormous growth of the Armenian kingdom under 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 



47 



Aram or Armanag, and its conquest of part of Assyria, excited 
the alarm of the Assyrian King Ninos. Not feeling strong 
enough to engage in open warfare with him, he thought to 
compass his destruction by winning his friendship, and then 
putting him out of the way; and as a first step he sent him a 
costly jeweled crown. The mtrigue failed, however, and Aram 
lived to a great age, reigning fifty years. 

Aram was succeeded by his son Ara, called "Ara the Beau- 
tiful/- The fame of his beauty went abroad through the world. 
The Assyrian Queen, Semiramis, was so enchanted by the sight 
of his person that she fell madly in love, and proposed marriage 
to him, but Aram refused her. This military Amazon was not 
to be balked so. She resolved to marry him by force, and came 
with a great arm\' to Armenia to capture the prize ; but he was 
killed in the war, and she took possession of the country, with 
which she was so charmed that she decided to remain. She re- 
moved the capital of the enlarged Assyrian kingdom to the 
lovely shores of Lake Van, erecting a palace there for herself, 
and buildings on the eastern side of a city named 
"Shamiramagerd'' (built by Semiramis). Many vears later 
a King of the Haigazian dynasty, whose name was 
Van, rebuilt it and called it after himself. This was 
the present city of Van. 

The next great interesting event was in 710 B. C, when 
Sennacherib of Assyria was assassinated by his two sons, 
Adramelich and Sharezer, who escaped into Armenia. The 
King of Armenia at this time was Sgayorty, which means "son 
of giant." He received the sons of wSennacherib with great 
kindness; they married Armenian women, and remained in 
the country till their death. Their descendants were great 
Armenian princes, bearing the titles Prince Arziroonian and 
Prince Kinoonian. 

It has already been said that the Assyrian influence, civili- 
zation and culture had characterized this period, moulded the 
customs of the people, and wrought changes in the names of 
some places and persons. It has been inferred by some his- 



48 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

torians and scholars from these changes that the Kings and 
the people of Ararat, or Armenia, were not Aryans, and do not 
belong to the Indo-European race or family. But they, un- 
fortunately for them, have no better argument to support their 
hypothesis than two or three names found in the Behistum 
inscription. The unhappiest aspect of their passion is this: 
One of the two scholars mentions those names as an argument 
to prove the existence still of these non- Aryan* people and lan- 
guage, and the other adduces the same names as evidence of 
the Aryans making their appearance at that period, or just a 
little before that time. 

Armenia comes ti view again in connection with Biblical 
history in the capture at Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, 600 
B. C, and the deportation of the Judean people. The Armenian 
King, Hurachia, was one of his allies in the siege, and on re- 
turning to Armenia carried with him a Hebrew prince named 
Shampad. This was a very intelligent man, and made himself 
greatly loved and esteemed by the Armenians — a sort of Daniel 
or Joseph. He, too, married an Armenian noblewoman, and 
his descendants became the very foremost of the noble families 
and ecclesiastical functionaries of the country, crowning the 
Kings on occasion. They were called Parkradoonias princes, 
and at last one of them founded the third dynasty of Armenian 
Kings, the pakradoonian. Though the nation is Aryan, there 
is noble Hebrew (Semitic) blood mixed with it. 

Perhaps the most interesting past of the Haigazian dynasty 
comes just before the end, the time of Dikran or Tigranes I. 
In him both wisdom and valor vv^ere combined to an eminent 
degree. As soon as he succeeded his father, Yerevant, he in- 
stituted great reforms to improve the state of the country. He 
not only enlarged it by conquest, but he greatly improved 
public education and morals, removed obstructions to interna- 
tional commerce, introduced navigation on the lakes and rivers, 

*In the Behistum inscription we hare three Armenian names, Dadarsh- 
ish, Dral^ha and Hanita, must be the same with Khaldita of the first quota- 
tion, for he is the father of Aralipa; both, therefore, must be either Aryans or 
non Aryans. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 49 

encouraged cultivations ; trade flourislied, every acre of ground 
was tilled, the country was alive with energy and hope. This 
vigor and prosperity aroused the envy of Ashdahag, King of 
Media. He resolved to kill Dikran, and, to throw him off his 
guard, married his sister. Princess Dikranooee. A plot to 
murder Dikran was then set on foot. The princess learned of 
it, warned her brother, wdiom she loved, and ran away. Dikran 
collected an army, made a rapid march to Media, surprised and 
slew Ashdahag, and brought back a vast amount of spoils in 
captives and goods. He built a fine city on the bank of the 
Tigris, and called it Dikranagerd, "the city of Dikran." It was 
afterwards the residence of the sister who had saved his life. It 
is now called by the Turks Diarbekr. 

The most important political achievement of his life was 
assisting Cyrus in the capture of Babylon, 538 B. C. The two 
monarchs were very friendly, and Dikran's Armenian army 
w^as a chief factor in the conquest. In Jeremiah's prophecy of 
the capture about a century before it occurred, he mentions the 
Armenian kingdom as one of the actors, "the kingdoms of 
Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz." (Jer. li., 27.) 

After Dikran's death his son, Vahakn, or Vahi, succeeded 
him; he was considered a god by the people, and worshiped 
as such through a monument after his death. Thus far the 
people had mostly worshiped the one true God, but from this 
time they relapsed into heathenism for a while, on account of 
the influences pressing on them from outside. The last King 
of the Haigazian dynasty was Vahi, or Vahakn. When Alex- 
ander the Great invaded Persia, Vahe w^ent to Darius' help with 
40,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry. But Alexander conquered 
first Darius and then Vahi (323 B. C.), and annexed both 
Persia and Armenia. From this time the country of Armenia 
was governed by the Macedonian ralers until the defeat of 
Antiochus the Great by the Romans. At this time A.rmenia 
recovered her independence, which did not, however, last very 
long. Thus came to an end the first Armenian dynasty, after 
an existence of 1,922 years. 



50 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

THE STORY OF ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. (CONTINUED.) 

The Second: The Arshagoonian, from 150 B. C. to 428 A. D. 

This dynasty began not far from 150 B. C, close to the 
time when Carthage was utterly destroyed and Greece was 
finally subjugated. It ended 428 A. D., about half a century 
before the extinction of the western Roman empire, and about 
the time Genseric and his Vandals conquered Africa. It is by 
far the most famous of the Armenian royal houses, for it em- 
braces the very heart of the classic times with which all edu- 
cated people are familiar. It brings us perpetually in contact 
with the most brilliant and best known of classic names. It is 
sprinkled with names towering up familiar and powerful, even 
among the Greek and Roman magnates, and in spite of political 
ups and downs it covers a time of immense expansion for the 
Armenian people, of a firmly rooted growth in numbers, wealth 
and consciousness of national unity, which has enabled the na- 
tion to survive and keep its tmited being through many cen- 
turies of dismemberment, impoverishment, massacre and at- 
tempts at outright extermination again and again. Ixlore than 
all, it covers the time of Jesus Christ and the conversion of Ar- 
menia to his religion, first of all the nations of the earth, as by 
its history and traditions it ought to have been. During the 
time between the disappearance of the line of Haig and the rise 
of the line of Arshag, Armenia was not by any means wholly 
without Kings of its own, but it was mostly a dependency. The 
rise of the Arsacidse or Arshag dynasty of Parthia was a 
complete overthrow of the Macedonian influence in the East. 
Arsaces, the Parthian King, appointed his brother Valarsaces 
King over Armenia, and these two countries, governed by one 
reigning family, were in full sympathy with each other and in 
firm alliance for a time, and a worthy antagonist and opponent 
of the Romans, who were pushing eastward over the territories 
once subdued by the Macedonian prince, Alexander the Great. 

Among the successors of Valarsaces of Arsacidse or Arshag 




DIKRAN TI. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 5^ 

dynasty of Armenia, Tigranes the Great, or the second, immor- 
tahzed himseh-, not only in the history of Armenia, but also in 
universal history. His name was the glory of his people, as it 
was also a terror to his enemies. He extended his dommions 
from the Caucasian-mountains to the Mesopotamian plains, and 
from the Caspian Sea to the ^lediterranean, including Media, 
Atropatene, Assyria proper, Cilicia, Syria, and Phoenicia. He 
built a new capital city of an immense size, and called after 
his name, Tigranaghert* (built by Tigranes). 

After these conquests he caUed himself "King of Kings" 
(that is, emperor, king with other kings under him), which title 
the Parthian Kings had claimed theretofore. He would prob- 
ably have ended by mastering and restoring the unity of the old 
Seleucia kingdom in its widest extent, the whole heart of west- 
ern Asia, had he not in an evil hour been induced by that reck- 
less old fighter, his father-in-law, Alithradates of Pontus, to 
join him in war against the Romans. Tis^ranes' own son had 
quarreled with him, and taken refuge with the King of Parthia, 
whose daughter he married, and now oftered to guide his 
father-in-law into Armenia if he would invade it as the ally of 
the Romans. This was done, and Tigranes the Elder had to 
fly to the mountains; but the Parthian King grew tired of the 
siege of rock castles, and went home, leaving his son-in-law to 
carry on operations with part of the armv. The great Ar- 
menian King at once broke loose, and annihilated the forces of 
his son, who fled to Pompev, just invading Armenia with the 
Roman armv. Even the great Tigranes was no match for 
Rome, and had to surrender. Pompey was not harsh with 
him, but left him Armenia (except Sophene and Gordyene, 
which were made into a kingdom for his son) and his Parthian 
conquests, even going so far as to send a Roman division to 
wrest these from the Parthian King, who had reconquered 
them on Tigranes' defeat, and restore them to the latter. On 

InJnm-ea thousand Cappadociansw^^ 

^pp^!^f cf?S^.?'i2^^Ja^i^d'^ai^^ 26). "Sixth Oriental 

Monarchy." by G. Rawlinson. 



52 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

the departure of Pompey, the Parthians once more reclaimed 
them, but a compromise was finally made. Phraates of Par- 
thia, however, resumed once more the title of "King- of Kings." 
Tigranes remained the ally of the Romans till his death in 55 
B. C, a reign of thirty-nine years, on the whole of great glory 
and usefulness. 

He was succeeded by his son, Artavasdes (Ardvash), who 
inherited that most dreadful of legacies, a place between the 
hammer and the anvil. For the next quarter of a century the 
Romans and the steadily growing and consolidating power of 
the Parthian empire were alternately irresistible in eastern Ana- 
tolia. It was impossible to avoid taking sides, for neutrality 
meant invasion by one party or the other; and whichever side 
he took he was sure to be punished for as soon as the other 
came uppermost. If Artavasdes had been as dexterous as 
Alexius Comninus himself he could hardly have escaped ruin; 
that he kept his throne for over twenty years is proof that he 
was not unworthy of his father. First came the invasion of 
Parthia by Crassus. Artavasdes, faithful to his father's Roman 
allegiance, asked him to make the invasion by way of Armenia, 
and offered to help him. Crassus refused, but the Parthian 
King, Grades, invaded Armenia. However, he made peace, 
and betrothed his eldest son, Pacorus, to Artavasdes' daugh- 
ter, just before news was brought him of the annihilation of 
Crassus' army, guaranteed by Crassus' severed head and hand, 
The civil wars of Rome for years to come broke the Roman 
power, and the Parthians (with the good will of the inhabitants, 
who detested the Roman pro-consuls), swept westward, com- 
pelled submission or alliance from all the countries to the Tau- 
rus, and even annexed all Syria for a time, just as, seven cen- 
turies later, the Syrians, from hate of the Byzantine governors, 
gave up their cities to the Saracens. But the Roman power 
once more rallied. The Parthians were driven out of Syria, 
and Pacorus was killed. The aged Grades, under whom the 
Parthian empire proper reached its pinnacle, died, leaving the 
throne to one of those jealous, murderous despots so familiar 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 53 

in eastern history, who made a general slaughter of his broth- 
ers, and even murdered his son to remove any possible leader of 
a revolt, and Artavasdes once more returned to the Roman 
alliance. In the year 36 A. D., Mark Antony undertook the 
task Crassus had so terribly failed in seventeen years before, of 
striking at the heart of Parthia. But this time the invasion was 
by way of Armenia. It was almost as frightful a disaster as the 
former; a third of the army of 100,000 men was destroyed by 
the enemy, 8,000 died of cold and storm in the Armenian 
mountains. The wounded died in enormous numbers; but 
that Artavasdes let the army winter in his country, it would 
have perished as completely as Crassus' did. In spite of this, 
the Romans, wanting a scapegoat, laid the whole blame on 
Artavasdes, without a shadow of reason that can be shown. It 
was the last time for a century and a half that the Romans at- 
tacked Parthia. In default of tliat plunder they resolved to 
have Armenia, and a couple of years later, in the year 33 A. D., 
they seized Artavades by treachery and occupied the countrv. 
The Parthians at once took up the cause of his son, Artaxa, 
and made war on the Romans to seat him on the throne, and 
when the Roman troops were withdrawn to help Anthony's cause, 
which was lost in the battle of Actium, the Parthians overran 
Armenia, and killed or massacred all the Romans in the coun- 
try, and made their candidate King as Artaxa 11. This was in 
30 B. C, and in the same year his father, Artavasdes, who had 
been carried to Alexandria by Antony, was beheaded bv Cleo- 
patra. But the very next year, the worthless tyrant, Phraates 
of Parthia, was driven from the throne by a rebellion, and 
Artaxa made peace with Rome. 

The history of Artavasdes' reign is in essence the historv 
of the next four centuries, save that the results were in.comphir- 
ably worse. 

We have been dealing with a time at least of steady, single- 
handed government, of able rulers, either inside or outside, of 
some sort of ability to keep the civil structure of the country 
from breaking to pieces; but even that disappears over long 
periods in the early centuries of the Roman empire. 



54 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

One great secret of Armenia's misery during these ages of 
woe — indeed, to a large extent during all the ages — lies in the 
fact that she is a borderland, a buffer between great states, and, 
indeed, between great natural divisions of climate and society. 
She is the boundary between semi-tropic central Asia and tem- 
perate eastern Europe, touching the land of the fig and the silk 
worm on the one side, and that of the apple and the mountain 
goat on the other; between Scythian steppes and Syrian des- 
erts. In these earlier ages she was fought for between East, 
West and South — Parthia, Rome and a Syro-Egyptian power 
of some sort; in these days divided between East, West and 
North. 

Had Armenia been smaller or more level she would have 
perished without a struggle, perhaps, rather, would never have 
existed; but her territory is so large and so defensible, that her 
history could have been predicted — final dismemberment be- 
tween great states surrounding her, yet not without ages of 
desperate struggle. She was not large enough to be per- 
manently the seat of empire; she was far too large for either 
rival to let pass wdiolly into the hands of the other. So she 
was pulled to pieces. But she wanted to control her own des- 
tiny, and made a long and heroic fight before being dismem- 
bered. 

To write the history of the next few centuries would tire 
out all readers, and would not do any good. It was a long 
duel between Rome and Persia for the ownership of Armenia, 
in which the prosperity and happiness of their unhappy football 
nearly perished. Almost the whole foreign policy of Parthia 
was to control or to have a paramount influence in Armenia; 
almost the whole foreign policy of Rome in the East was to do 
the same thing. 

For nearly a century following Artavasdes' deposition, 
though the Romans professed to govern the country, and the 
Parthians sometimes held it, and both sides repeatedly put 
kings on its throne, it was actually in a state of pure anarchy. 
Every great family, seeing it must depend on its own strength 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 55 

for preservation, extended its rule over as wide a district as 
would submit. Nearly two hundred houses acted with perfect 
independence of each other and of the nominal government, 
and some of them established principalities of considerable 
size. 

After this, though the country was for century after cen- 
tury just the same shuttlecock between the rival states, tb/t 
feudal anarchy was somewhat reduced, the turbulent nobility 
better held in check; but it was impossible that there should 
be really firm and orderly government when a king could not 
be secure of his throne for a year on one side or the other, and 
dared not render his powerful subjects disaffected by making 
them obey the laws. 

We may be sure that the government was really an oli- 
garchy, under the forms of a monarchy, and even the title, 
"King of Armenia," during this period must not be taken to 
mean too much. There were sometimes separate kings of 
Upper and Lower Armenia, one under Roman and one under 
Parthian influence. The independent princes often made head 
against both, and outlying principalities, like those of Osrhoene 
and Gordvene, probably got hold of more or less Armenian 
territory in the melee. 

At this time the Prince Abgar, or Abgarus, or King Apkor, 
the son of Arsham, from the dynasty of Osrhoene, was the 
fifteenth king of the little kingdom of Armenia, or in northern 
iMesopotamia, w4iose capital was the flourishing city of Edessa, 
called Uorfa, which lay next he southern border of Armenia. 

According to the Armenian church history, and also the 
great Christian father, Eusebius, the origin of Christianity in 
Armenia dates from the time of its King Abgar, who reigned 
at the beginning of the Christian era. He had his seat of gov- 
ernment in the city of Edessa, and was tributary to the Romans. 

Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Judaea, was hostile to King 
Abgor, but was unable to injure him, except by exciting the 
Romans against him. Pie therefore accused him falsely to the 
Emperor Tiberius of rebellious projects. King Abgar, on 



^6 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

being made acquainted with this accusation, hastened to send 
messengers to the Roman general, Marinus, then governor of 
Syria, Phoenicia and Palestine, for the purpose of vindicating 
himself; then, however, he had vindicated himself before the 
Roman Emperor, Tiberius. 

After Abgor's death his son Anane succeeded him. This 
Anane apostatized, and tried to make his people do the same 
as before. He reopened the heathen temples, resumed the 
public worship of the idols, and ordered the sacred handkerchief 
removed from the city gate. But Adde, the bishop, walled up 
the latter.. The King ordered the bishop to make a diadem for 
him, as he had for his father. The bishop refused to make one 
for a head that would not bow to Christ, and the King had the 
bishop's feet cut off while he was preaching, causing his death — 
the first Christian martyr on record. By a just retribution the 
savage king met his own death by a marble pillar in his palace 
falling on him and breaking his legs. 

Meantime, Abgor's nephew, Sanadrug, had set up his 
standard in Shavarshan, or Ardaz, proclaiming himself King 
of Armenia — one of the countless chieftains who took advan- 
tage of Armenian anarchy to carve out principalities for them- 
selves. On the death of Anane, he marched to Edessa, claim- 
ing it as his own inheritance. The people admitted him on his 
oath not to harm them, but once inside he massacred all the 
males of the house of Abgor. 



THE STORY OF ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. 

The Third: the Pakradoonian from 885 A. D. to 1045 A. D. 

For a century after the Mohammedan conquest of Persia 
the fortunes of Armenia were apparently at their lowest ebb, and 
as a country it almost disappears from history. But by one of 
the compensations of nature, which provides that human force, 
Hke other force, cannot be extinguished, but if suppressed will 
find an outlet elsewhere, its people began a career of briUiancy 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 



57 



and power unequaled in its history, and broadened from the 
role of a tormented buffer-state to that of the great Byzantine 
empire itself. The Saracen torrent flowed over Armenia's low- 
lands, and up to the base of its mountain fortresses, but never 
overcame them; for generations the contending forces battled 
together, surging back and forth, and filling the beautiful val- 
leys with fire and blood. But Armenia proper was never added 
to the list of Saracen conquests, never made a part of the Mo- 
hammedan empire, or strengthened Mohammedanism, till four 
centuries later, through Byzantine greed and folly. 

Internally it was all in feudal anarchy again, so far as con- 
cerned any one central focus of government. Even the Persian 
satraps had gone from the Persian side, and with them the half- 
control they had kept over the turbulent baronage. On the 
Roman side, from early in the seventh century to early in the 
eighth, the throne of Constantinople was filled with weak and 
unstable monarchs, fighting for Anatolia against the Saracens, 
and unable to exercise any effective control over Armenia, to 
which, indeed, they looked as a frontier defense against these 
very foes. 

But let us not attach too harsh a meaning to "anarchy.'^ 
There were a hundred rulers, it is true, great dukes and barons, 
each supreme in his own district; but because they held power 
by the sword against a savage enemy their subjects had to be a 
strong, independent race, with arms in their hands, which they 
would use against their chiefs, as \wt\\ as the foreigners, if there 
was great oppression. In this fierce school Armenia learned 
the sternest lessons of self-help and discipline. With no inter- 
ference from outsiders to fear, and no help from them to be got 
i: became even more confirmed in its own independent, isolated 
ways, a world to itself, as it has been ever since. Its cultivators 
tilled their fields as they had done for so many centuries, and its 
scholars reach such books as they had, and wTote such as their 
own minds furnished. But vast numbers of its hardv sons took 
service in the Greek armies, and became the bone and sinew of 
the defence of Asia Minor against the caliphs. Not only so, 



tg ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

but they rose by hundreds to the highest commands in the em- 
pire, both civil and miUtary. They formed the "best society" 
in Constantinople itself, and to crown all. a score of emperors 
and empresses, in four different lines, including the most illus- 
trious ones that ever sat on the throne, from Constantine down 
and who ruled the empire for two hundred and seventy-seven 
years, were Armenians. It is within the truth, and can be jus- 
tified from the greatest of English historians, to say that for 
four centuries the Byzantine empire was not a Greek but an 
Armenian empire. Armenians by blood filled all the great 
offices of state, commanded the armies, occupied the throne for 
nearly three hundred years, and preserved the empire from ex- 
ternal invasion and internal disintegration. It was the acces- 
sion of an Armenian dynasty that turned it from a decaying 
power to one that expanded steadily for two centuries, from 
one falling into anarchy to one the glory of the world for scien- 
tific organization, and it was the final overthrow of Armenian 
influence that ruined the empire, being followed almost at once 
by the loss of half its territory and the richest part, and the 
breaking up of its system of civil administration. Everywhere 
in the time of Byzantine glory you find the list full of Armenian 
names. The appearance of "Bordas" as the name of generals 
or civil magnates is always proof of Armenian blood, and that 
name is monotonously common. It is the Greek form of 
"Varton," though now and then they make it "Bardones." 
One of the greatest conquerors in Byzantine history, John 
Kurkuas, was an Armenian, from a family which supplied three 
generations of statesmen and generals and two great emperors, 
and this is part of what the immortal historian of "Greece Under 
Foreign Domination," George Finlay, has to say: — 

Let us note the Armenian sovereigns of the Byzantine 
empire. First, the great iconoclast house of Leo, the so-called 
Isaurian, the saviour and restorer of the empire, which reigned 
from 716 to 797. Leo considered himself an Armenian, and 
he ought to have known best. He married his daughter to an 
Armenian. He saved Constantinople from capture by the 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 59 

Saracens, causing the destruction of the finest Mohammedan 
army ever gotten together; of its 180,000 men only 30,000 got 
back home, according to the Mohammedan historians. 

Twenty-two years later another great Moslem army was 
annihilated by Leo, and for two centuries the Saracens scarcely 
troubled the empire again. But not only so, he remodeled the 
whole administration so effectively that no serious breakdown 
occurred for three centuries, and he put new life into the whole 
society, so that it began to outgrow its enemies, as well as out- 
fight them. After his able dynasty ended another Armenian, 
Leo v., reigned seven and a half years, from 813 to 820. 

About half a century later began the Basilian dynasty, 
under which the laws were codified and Bulgaria destroyed. 

Basil was born in Macedonia, but the name of his brother, 
Symbatias — Armenian Simpad — shows that he was of an Ar- 
menian family, the colonies of Armenians having spread all 
over the civilized world. 

His line reigned without a break from 867 to 963, when the 
beautiful widow, Theophano, was pushed aside for sixteen years 
by another Armenian house. Nikephoras Phokas and his 
nephew, John Zimiskes, two of the ablest generals and states- 
men ever on the throne, descendants of a brother of the great 
commander, John Kurkuas, before spoken of; then Theo- 
phano's son, Basil IL — Boulgaroktanas, the Bulgarian Slayer, 
and the ultimate destroyer of Armenia as well — took the throne 
979, and the dynasty continued till 1057, when it had run to 
dregs, and had just before finally ruined Armenia, and by so 
doing ruined the empire. 

To go back to Armenia itself, the reason a feudal anarchy 
always ends in a military monarchy, no matter how able or 
self-willed every one of the separate chiefs may be, is that this 
very class. most interested in perpetuating it grow weary of it. 
The stronger barons oppress and plunder the weaker, who are 
always superior in numbers and in united strength if they will 
act together. A small lord may like to be free from control by 
the King's officers, as well as a great one; but if he can only 



60 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

have that privilege by letting his overbearing neighbor be free 
from it too, and rob him, he finds it does not pay, and sighs for 
a law that will control everyone alike, and a strong ruler to 
enforce it. So if a chief in such a community comes to be 
known as having a hard hand, and letting no one be above the 
law but himself, the small landlrolders flock under his banner; 
he grows into a prince, and eventually some prince of such a 
family will make himself king, with the good will and help of all 
but a few great houses, who feel able to take care of themselves 
and desirous of taking care of others. 

This happened in Armenia. In 743, a century after the 
battle of Nehavend, and four years after Leo's crushing defeat 
of the second great Saracen army, we find that a chief named 
Ashod, of the family of Pakrad,orBagrat, claiming descent from 
the ancient Jews, had managed to win control over central and 
northern Armenia; how long it had been exercised or what it 
grew from no one knows. When Ashod is the first known 
founder of the Pakradoonian dynasty of Armenia, probably in 
885, the two most interested powers, the Persian and Greek, 
were both favorable to this change, and no doubt both expected 
to benefit by it. Under these auspices a dynasty, the descen- 
dants of Sumbat and Pakrat, and hence of the direct line o! 
Israel (see the Haigian dynasty in this book), took possession 
of the Armenian throne. During the period of wellnigh two 
hundred years of their troubled sway, the history of Armenia 
has little other interest save what attaches to a condition of in- 
cessant commotion and massacre, arising from the alternating 
oppressions of Persians and Greeks, as they saw it to be their 
advantage to intervene in her affairs. The effusive friendship 
of both eastern and western patrons had begun to visibly cool 
before a single generation of the new regime had passed away. 
Issuf, a creature of the Persian caliph, after carrying on hostili- 
ties against the Pakradoonian King, Sumbat I. (the second of 
the dynasty), seized him, and tortured him to death. This mis- 
creant continued his invasions of Armenia in the reign of Sum- 
bat's successor. Ashod II., "the Iron," gained his title from his 




^ «0«^ / I'll,- 



ASHOD. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 6l 

stern military power. He beat back the Arabs, and gave the 
land peace for a considerable time. He left no son, and his 
brother Appas succeeded him, another brave and wise ruler, 
who brought back the Armenian captives held in bondage by 
the Saracens. He made the city of Kars his capital. He 
greatly improved the city, and built a beautiful cathedral there. 
After a reign of tv^enty-four years he died in peace, and his son 
succeeded him as Ashod HI. 

This was the glory of the line in prowess and generosity. 
He reminds one of Alfred the Great in England. He was the 
terror of his country's enemies; not one of them, Arab, Greek, 
or Persian, dared to invade Armenia, and they sent presents to 
conciliate his friendship. It was under him that the country 
became formally independent again. He filled it with fortified 
places. He gave all his personal income in charity, and estab- 
lished almshouses and state charities. He was so benevolent 
and so interested in the destitute that he was called "The Merci- 
ful." He ruled over Armenia twenty-six years, and was suc- 
ceeded by his son, Simpad. This was neither a good man nor 
good ruler, but corrupt, cruel, and ambitious onlv for selfish 
purposes. He made the city of Ani, on the north side of 3^Iount 
Ararat, the royal capital, built strong walls and lofty towers 
around it, and is said to have erected looi churches in it — which 
he might do, and still be a bad man. The extent of its still ex- 
isting ruins of palaces, churches, towers, and castles testifies 
that it was one of the great cities of the world, like Babylon and 
Antioch. 

For more than a centurv Armenia flourished and srrew 
rich; then it disappeared once more under the hammer and 
anvil of Byzantine and Saracen, aided by internal disruption 
and the treachery of its great nobles, who hated the Kings for 
controlUng their lawlessness. Let us take in just its situation. 
It included the heart of the Armenian highlands, but it had not 
the extent of old Armenia, several Armenian districts being in- 
dependent of it, and either free or tributary to the Byzantine 
empire. Ani was its seat, but the district around Kars, fifty 



62 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

miles northwest, had spHt off into a separate principality, the 
boundary between the two being the Aros; on the east was Vas- 
paurakan, another princedom ; on the west Sebate, another; on 
the north Iberia, and Abkhasia, or Abasgia, or Albania, the 
realms of the Georgians, and one or two others not quite cer- 
tain. But all these were ruled by Armenian princes, mostly of 
the Pakradoonian house. 

The Byzantines and Armenians were not long destined to 
fight their battles side by side. In 1022 the Emperor Basil II. 
compelled the Armenian King, Johannes Simpad, to sign a 
treaty, ceding at his death the city of Ani, with the province in 
which it stood, to the Greeks. Constantine IX. called upon 
Gaghik, the last of the Pakradoonian Kings, to ratify this 
treaty. On his refusal, Constantine, forming an alliance with 
the Saracen Emperor Tovin, laid siege to Ani. The treachery 
of the Armenian chiefs aided the project of the emperor. Gag- 
hik surrendered, and, receiving a safe conduct, set out to 
Constantinople to plead his cause. Meantime, the city of Ani 
was captured by the Byzantine forces (1045). This fatal blow 
to the Pakradoonian monarchy, coming from the hand of a 
Christian power, destroyed not only an Armenian dynasty, but 
the only barrier to the advances of the Seljauk Turks. It was, 
therefore, in due time destined to recoil with direct results upon 
the head of the assailant. 

Following close upon the surrender of Ani the Seljauk 
Turks made repeated incursions into Armenia. In the third 
of these incursions they captured the city of Arzen, and mas- 
sacred in cold blood 140,000 people; the remnant they carried 
away into captivity. The native historian adds that the same 
cruelties were perpetrated by this barbarous horde on many other 
cities of Armenia. Ani, meantime, was occupied by 60,000 
Greek troops, under the command of Camenas, and these were 
well pleased to look on with complacency at the sufferings of 
the Armenians. 

In 1062, after the death of Togrue, his successor invaded 
Armenia and captured Ani. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 6^ 

We have now reached the close of our brief survey of the 
general character of the Bagradoonian dynasty. The termina- 
tion of the chequered career of the exiled King Gaghik is tragic 
in no ordinary degree. Father Chamich gravely relates how 
the exiled King visited ]\Iarcus, the Metropolitan of Csesarea, 
with a few attendants. He had heard that Alarcus kept a huge 
dog, which, to show his contempt, he named "Armenian." 
Marcus made a show of giving the ex-king a cordial welcome, 
and prepared for him a feast on the evening of his arrival. 
Gaghik desired his host to call his large dog. The animal, on 
being brought in was saluted by his master by the name "Ar- 
menian." On a given signal, the attendants of Gaghik seized 
the dog and put him into a large bag. They forthwith threw 
the Metropolitan in beside him, and securely fastened the bag. 
The dog was then severely beaten, and so becoming furious, he 
worried his master to death. Falling into the hands of the 
Greeks, Gaghik was, in revenge, subjected to the most horrid 
cruelties, and after being put to death, his bloody corpse was 
suspended from the walls of Kigistra, to strike terror into his 
followers. So perished, says Chamich, Gaghik, in the fifty- 
fifth year of his age. He had been three years in possession of 
the throne of Armenia, and thirty-five years in exile. The same 
authority observes: "A want of prudence removed the crown 
from the Arsacidse, and a melancholy want of unanimity 
caused the downfall of the Pakradoonians." 

With the overthrow of the Pakradoonian dynasty the for- 
tunes of x\rmenia sunk to a still lower ebb than ever they had 
done before. A portion of the conquered dominions was 
seized by the Greeks, while the Turks and Kurds did their best 
to establish a claim to the rest. At this stage took place a gen- 
eral movement into different provinces of the Turkish empire, 
particularly into the regions lying to the west and south of their 
ancient settlements. Only one or two native princes continued 
to maintain their independence. Of these, Rupen, related to 
the Pakradoonia, extended the limits of his dominions, and his 
successors advanced to Cilicia and Cappadocia, where they es- 
tablished what is known as the Rupenian kingdom and dynasty. 



64 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

THE STORY OF ARMENIAN DYNASTIES. (CONTINUED.) 

The Fourth: The Rupenian, from 1080 A. D. to 1375 A. D. 

In the time of Rupen the patriarchate was weakened by 
divisions. Instead of one, the Armenian church set up four 
rival pontiffs, but the general voice was in favor of St. Gregory, 
to whose character and reforms we have already alluded. 
Around him and successive pontiffs gathered groups of studi- 
ous and scholarly men, whose names and works are still held in 
honor. While Rupen and his successors styled themselves 
Kings, it was not until the time of Leo 11. (1198) that the Ru- 
penian kingdom was formally constituted and recognized by 
other powers. In that year Pope Celestinus III., at the insti- 
gation of the German Emperor (Henry VI.), sanctioned the 
coronation of Leo, and sent him a magnificent crown by the 
hand of Conrad, Archbishop of Maguntia. The Emperor sent 
him at the same time a splendid standard, having in the middle 
a lion rampant, in allusion to his name. This device was hence- 
forth adopted by the Armenian Kings in lieu of the ancient 
design of the eagle, pigeon and dragon."^ 

But we have anticipated the grand event which, in some 
measure, renders memorable this era in the history of the 
Cilician kingdom of Armenia. This was its temporary connec- 
tion with the Crusades. While the new sovereignty on the 
west of Asia Minor was struggHng into and for existence, first 
with Greeks, and then again with Persians, a new enterprise 
was rousing to its inmost depths the heart of the nations of 
Christian Europe. This was the conception of a grand Cru- 
sade, whose object should be to wrest Palestine and Jerusalem, 
and Constantinople as well, from the grasp of the infidel. 

It was true that at this stage the deliverance of Constanti- 
nople was only prospective, as it was not yet in the hands of the 
advancing foe. But it was easily seen that, with the Turkish 
camp already pitched on the eastern shore of the Bosphorus, 

♦Camicli, vol. ii, pp. 215. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 65 

this could only be a question of time. Peter the Hermit, laden 
with the benediction of Urban IL, and supported by a countless 
host of warriors, bearing on their breasts or shoulders the sign 
of the Red Cross, was now at Constantinople, on the way to 
deliver Jerusalem. Under the leadership of Godfrey of 
Bouillon this motley group had made its way to this, its first 
friendly resting-place and object of succor. Crossing into Asia 
Minor, it had found itself in the horrors of famine and pesti- 
lence. The Armenians, both of eastern and western Asia, sent 
abundant supplies, and by their seasonable services earned the 
gratitude of the leaders of the Crusade. The same friendlv 
spirit was shown also in the case of the second Crusade. On 
the capture of Jerusalem in 1099 the leader of the first Crusade 
sent the Armenian prince, Constantine, valuable presents, cre- 
ated him a marquis, and conferred on him the honor of knight- 
hood. 

Amid the turmoil of Saracen conquest, in honor of the 
founder this new dynasty was styled the Rupenian dynasty, 
which lasted about three centuries. Meanwhile Malek Shah 
died, and the vast Seljukian empire was divided into various 
principalities. One of these principalities occupied a large 
portion of western Asia, bordering on the Greek empire, having 
for its capital the city of Nice. 

It was during the reign of Constantine, the son and suc- 
cessor of Rupen L, that the immense army of the Crusades 
for the first time marched into western Asia, took Nice and 
various places, and laid siege to Antioch. But a terrible 
famine broke out in their camp. When the information of it 
reached Constantine and his chiefs, they sent an abundance of 
provisions to the army of the Crusaders. 

The last dynasty of the Armenians in Cilicia was by no 
means in a favorable condition. While western Asia was in a 
fearful agitation, and in a tumultuous situation, the Seljukian, 
after losing their capital, Nice, made Iconium — which over ten 
centm-ies before had listened to the famous missionaries, Paul 
and Barnabas, tell the story of the Cross — their capital, and 



66 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

made it resound with the "ezzins" of the "muezzin" from the 
numerous minarets, and became a source of great trouble to 
the Armenians. The Greeks, inflamed with like hatred and 
prejudice as before, were more or less in constant conflict with 
them. The Armenians, over-exultant because of the presence 
of the Christian forces of the western nations in the east, were 
willing to enlist in aid of their cause by entering into an alliance 
with them. But the suspicions of some that these foreigners 
were anxious to bring the Armenian church or people under 
the control of the Pope of Rome were sustained by the facts, 
revealed in due time. Though their attempts proved unsuc- 
cessful, a schism originated in the church, which, with its detri- 
mental effect upon the church and the people, still continues. 

A new tremendous army of the Mongolians, under the 
command of Chinghis Khan, made its appearance in western 
Asia. They spread all over Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor 
destruction, devastation, and death, committing wholesale mas- 
sacre, consuming the cities and towns by fire, and carrying 
away hundreds and thousands into captivity. Armenia has 
been over and over inundated with the blood of her inhabitants, 
enriched with their carcasses scattered upon her face; her 
beautiful and bright sky was often rendered foggy and smoky 
on account of the conflagrations of her immense cities and 
numerous towns, kindled by the enemy; her beautiful sons and 
daughters were torn away from the bosoms of their parents^ 
carried away as captives, and sold for slaves; her magnificent 
churches and monasteries were converted into mosques and 
"tekes." Yet the "House of Togarmah" marched on through 
these tremendous seas of oppression, persecution, cruelty, and 
injustice, from a remote antiquity to the end of the fourteenth 
century of our era, lifting up the old, centuries old, flag of lib- 
erty, torn to pieces and ready to fall into an irreparable disso- 
lution. 

No doubt the object of the Popes, who urged the western 
sovereigns to raise Crusades against the Mohammedans, and 
kept them engaged in this unsuccessful enterprise for a length 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 67 

of time, at the expense of an immense wealth and milHons of 
human Uves, was twofold — to exercise their sublunary power 
over these potentates, and to further their influence over other 
Christian nations in the east. 

But they signally failed in their purpose. There came a 
time that the Popes had no influence over the Kings of Europe, 
and the Crusaders in the east rendered their names detestable 
forever, both to the Christians and non-Christians. *Tn 1204 
(Christian era) the capital (Constantinople) was captured by the 
Crusaders, whose conduct fixed an indelible stain upon the 
name of the Franks throughout the east, especially as it is con- 
trasted with that of the Mohammedans, who, a few years before, 
had conquered Jerusalem. When Saladin entered the latter 
city the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was respected, and the 
conquered Christians remained in possession of their property; 
no confiscations were made of the wealth of the non-comba- 
tants. But the vaunted chivalry of the papal church plundered 
a Christian city without remorse, desecrated its shrines, and 
maltreated its inhabitants, while the profane cry of "God will 
it!" was raised to excite each other to act the part of brigands 
and debauchees. Sacred plate, golden images of saints, and 
silver candelabra from the altars; bronze statues of heathen 
idols and heroes, precious works of Hellenic art; crowns, coro- 
nets, thrones, vessels of gold and silver; ornaments of dia- 
monds, pearls, and precious stones from the imperial treasury 
and the palaces of the nobles; jewelry and precious metals from 
the shops of the goldsmiths; silks, velvets, and brocaded tis- 
sues from the warehouses of the merchants, together with 
coined money, were accumulated in vast heaps as spoils to be 
divided by the victors. A few of the crusading clergy endea- 
vored to moderate the fury which the bigoted prejudices of the 
Latin church had instilled into the minds of the soldiery against 
the Greeks; but many priests w^ere as forward as the most 
abandoned of the troops in robbing the temples of a kindred 
faith."^^ 

♦ "The Turkish Empire," pp. 238, 2.30. 



68 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Our Saviour's words were literally fulfilled. With what 
measure the Greeks so often had measured and dealt with the 
Armenians it was meted to them by the hands of the Crusaders. 
Yet such a conduct of the Crusaders with the Christians, and 
undoubtedly a conduct ten times worse than this towards the 
Mohammedans, accounts for the determination and fury of the 
latter against the Christians. The reply of Melick Nasr, the 
Egyptian Sultan, to an application of the Armenian King, Leo 
II., for a treaty of peace was the following: — 

'T will never make peace with you until you promise on 
oath not to hold any correspondence or communication wnth 
western nations." 

Often did the Mohammedan powers imagine that the Ar- 
menians had again stirred up the western nations, that they 
were marching against them in greater force than ever before, 
and then they would attack the cities and towns of the Ar- 
menians and commit all manner of atrocities, thinking that this 
might be their last opportunity. The Armenian independence 
of Cilicia was surrounded by the Ottoman power on the west, 
constantly growing in strength and in numbers; on the east 
and north by the Mongolian invaders, under such leaders as 
Togrul Bey, Alp Arslan, Chinghis Khan, Tamerlane, and 
others, who deserve to be called the greatest warriors and the 
most cruel sons of the world; on the south by the Mohamme- 
dans of Egypt, under the reign of the Mameluke Sultans, who 
were no less formidable than the previous two, both in hatred 
and cruelty toward the Christians. 

After the withdrawal of the western nations — or, rather, 
their being driven out from the east, in full satisfaction of their 
complete failure, either to maintain their position or ameliorate 
the oppressed condition of the Oriental Christians under the 
Mohammedans, the latter had but little difficulty in destroying 
the independnce of the Armenians in Cilicia. By various in- 
cursions of the Mohammedans of Egypt into Cilicia, the Ar- 
menians were reduced in strength and in numbers. Finally a 
vast army of the enemy marched against them. These mis- 





LEON VII. 



Aivb THE ARMENIANS. 69 

Sionary soldiers of Mohammed, indeed brutes in character and 
nature, though clad in clayey garments of human forms, spread 
themselves all over the country. No city, town, or village ; no 
building of any value, whether church, monastery, or dwelling, 
and no human being of any age or sex that fell into their hands 
was spared. They slaughtered every human being, and burned 
to ashes every building or razed it to the ground. In their exe- 
cution of the unfortunate victims fallen into their hands thev 
did not leave any mode untried. "The deceitful above all 
things and desperately wicked heart'- of a depraved humavi 
creature could not have suggested any new method of torture 
that these Mohammedans did not devise and experiment upon 
their captives. 

King Leo YI. and the garrison surrendered on the condi- 
tion that their lives would be spared. The Egyptian general 
promised this on oath. Leo VL was fettered, and, with his 
family, carried to Cairo in the eleventh year of his reign. (A. D. 
1373). The King, Leo, and his family, after serving a period 
of imprisonment at Cairo, were freed by the mediation and 
valuable presents of the King of Spain from their imprison- 
ment. Leo, with his Queen and daughter, went to Jerusalem. 
There he left them, at their own request, and then visited the 
European countries. On the 19th of November, A. D. 1393, 
he ended his mortal career at Paris. Leo, King of Armenia, 
was of small stature, but of intelligent expression and of well 
formed features. His body was carried to the tomb clothed in 
royal robes of white, according to the custom of Armenia, with 
an open crown upon his head and a golden sceptre in his hand. 
He lay in state upon a bier hung with white, and surrounded by 
the ofificers of his household, clothed all of them in white robes. 
He was buried by the high altar of the church of the Celestine. 
The following epitaph is on his monument, which still exists 
to-day : 

"Here lies Leo. VL, the noble Lousinian Prince, 

The King of Armenia, 

Who died 1393 A. D., Nov. 23d, in Paris." 



-70 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

The enemy had rendered the country a complete desert, 
and it still remains so. The people also fell mider the iron 
yoke of the Mohammedan power, and still suffer all the injus- 
tice and cruelties of such a government as that of Turkey, which 
has no excuse for its existence. 




CATHERINE KORNARO, LAST QUEEN OF ARMENIA. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PERIOD OF THE ARMENIAN SUBJECTION FROM I375 TO 

THE PRESENT TIME. 

From the overthrow of Leo VI., the last of the Rupenian 
dynasty, in 1375, ^^^^ Armenian Monarchy ceased to exist. 
From that time forward even the semblance of civil autonomy 
disappeared. Whether, and when, it is destined to reappear^ 
as the outcome of the present situation, is one of the questions 
which is still awaiting solution. The absorption of Armenia, 
now deprived of her kings, first by Persian and again by Turk- 
ish rulers, makes it no easy matter to trace the course of her 
chequered history. 

How many thousands of their children were alienated 
from their paternal homes and home altars to adopt Moham- 
medanism, to swell the number of the Janissaries; how many 
thousands of families were compelled to exchange the re- 
ligion of Christ, which is the religion of love and chastity, with 
the religion of Mohammed, which is the religion of sensualism 
and tyranny; how many thousands were massacred because 
they could not obey such an infernal behest, it is surely impos- 
sible to tell. But suffice it to say that these questions are not 
imaginary possibilities, but actualities performed by our fan- 
atic Mohammedans, and instances are not wanting even at this 
present day. 

While the expatriated Armenians were so cruelly treated 
by^ the Turks in the western and central part of Asia Minor, 
those in Armenia proper received one of the severest calami- 
ities ever inflicted upon men. The scourger of this infliction 
was the famous Mongolian savage and warrior, Lenk Timour, 
commonly called Tamerlane. He made himself the master of 



J2. ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

an empire extending from the walls of China to the shores o! 
the Mediterranean, having Samarkand for his capital. 

He marched with an immense army in 1387 against the 
Persians and subdued them within a short time, and he then 
fell upon the Armenians; from the city of Van to the city of 
Sibastia (Sivas), from the one end to the other of Armenia. 
No city, town or village escaped the notice of this rapacious 
potentate, but he reduced them to ruinous heaps and ashes; he 
slaughtered a great number of the inhabitants, sparing the 
youths as captives. The inhabitants of the latter city (Sivas) 
surrendered on his solemn promise that "no soldier of his will 
lift up the sword on them." He, however, was true to the let- 
ter, but not to the spirit of his promise. Four thousand soldiers 
were roasted to death, great multitudes were buried alive, and 
thousands of young and old whose hands and feet were tied, 
were thrown together and trampled under the feet of the horses. 

The spot upon which this barbarous mode of massacre 
took place, to this day bears the name of Sev-Hakher, signify- 
ing in the Armenian language the ''Black plains." 

He then attacked the Turks, who received a signal defeat, 
and Sultan Bayazid L in vain attempted to efifect his escape; 
he was captured, and he possibly died in captivity about 1402. 

''For a few years Timour was the undisputed lord of Asia, 
master of the original seat of Ottomans, reigning in all the 
Splendor of the ancient , caliphs of Samarkand, till death re- 
moved him to the presence of that awful Being whose laws 
he had violated and whose creatures he had destroyed." He 
died in 1406 in his capital, Samarkand. 

The magnificent city of Constantinople, after being the 
metropolis of a Christian nation over eleven centuries, fell into 
the hands of the barbarian Turks. In vain, and too late, did 
the Greeks realize their critical condition, and struggle 
against the angel of death. The capture of Constantinople by 
the Turks filled the European nations with consternation. 

The following is from the letter of Pius H., the pope of 
Rome, who tried to raise a crusade against the Turks. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 73 

The Strait of Cadiz has been passed, and the passion of 
Mohammed penetrates even into Spain. . . In the other di- 
rection, where Europe extends eastward, the Christian rehg- 
ion has been swept away from all the shores. 

The barbarian Turks, a people hated by God and man, 
issuing from the east of Scythia, have occupied Cappadocia, 
Poatus, Bethynia, Troas, Pisidia, Cilicia and all-* Asia ]^linor. 
Not yet content, counting on the weakness and dissensions of 
the Greeks, they have passed the Hellespont, and got posses- 
sion of nearly all the Grecian cities of Attica, Boeotia, Phocis, 
Achaic, Macedonia and Trace. 

Still, the royal city of Constantinople did remain the pil- 
lar and head of all East, the seat of patriarch and emperor, the 
sole dwelling place of Grecian wisdom. . . This, too, in 
our own day, while the Latins, divided among themselves, for- 
sook the Greeks, has that cruel nation of Turks invaded and 
spoiled, triumphing over the city that once gave taxes to all 
the East. 

Nor is their savage appetite yet satiated. The lord of that 
unrighteous people, who is rather to be called a dark brute 
than a king, a venomous dragon than emperor, he athirst for 
human blood, brings down huge forces upon Hungary. Here 
he harasses the Eperotes, and here the Albanians ; and swelling 
in his own pride, boasts that he will abolish the most holy Gos- 
pel and all the law of Christ, and threatens Christians every- 
where with chains, stripes, death and horrid torments. 

Even the great reformer, immortal Luther, composed a 

once popular prayer, suited to the times, to be sung as a hymn 

in the churches ; and R'obert Wisdame, afterwards Archdeacon 

of Ely, appended a translation of it to the metrical version of the 

psalms, by Steinhold and Hopkins. It commences with the 

lines : 

"Preserve us. Lord, by Thy dear word. 
From Pope and Turk, defend us. Lord." 

The cruelties of Tamerlane had already caused thousands 
of Armenian families to emigrate still westward; all these, and 



74 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

those dwelling in Cilicia, Cappadocia, Pontiis, and Asia Minor, 
became subjects to the Ottoman Empire. 

Sultan Mohammed II., the most remarkable, perhaps, of 
all the Sultans, stormed and took the city of Constantinople, 
which was.henceforth to be the seat of the Ottoman Empire. 

The siege and fall of Constantinople rank among the 
most imposing. events in the transition from ancient to modern 
history. Constantine XL, the last of the Greek Caesars, had 
appealed for help to the Christian powers of Europe — but in 
vain. The disputes between the Eastern and Western churches 
had rendered the prospect of the fall of the former a matter 
of indifference, if not an object of desire, to the papal see. 

The spirit of the Crusades was also largely quenched, 
and so the citadel of Eastern Christendom, in its hour of su- 
preme need, was left to its own unaided resources. We can- 
not rehearse the story of the fifty-three days' siege. The 
forces of the attack and the defence were in sad and suggestive 
contrast. 

Around a city, whose Greek population the recent calam- 
ities had reduced to about 100,000 souls, with an enfeebled gar- 
rison, there gathered the 258,000 soldiers of the Turk, with 
320 sail, including all kinds of craft. 

The day fixed for the final onslaught, i. e.. May 29, 1453, 
was set apart by the Sultan Mohammed II. as a religious fes- 
tival. The preceding night witnessed a magnificent illumina- 
tion of the Moslem camp and ships, transforming the harbor 
of the Golden Horn and its vicinity into a scene of splendor 
such as, perhaps, had never been witnessed before, or was ever 
to be witnessed again in the history of Oriental display. 

The stated calls to prayer rose upon the still air without, 
while the pathetic cry of Kyrie eleison resounded within the 
doomed city. 

The attack commenced in the early morning, and by mid- 
day Mohammed II. was riding in triumph into his new 
capital by the gate of St. Romanus. He rode past the dead 
body of the Greek emperor, buried beneath a heap of the slain. 







p 

H 

o 

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w 
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AND THE ARMENIANS, 75 

The grand old emperor, whose courage had supported 
his people through the horrors of the siege, had already taken 
his last sacrament in the church of St. Sophia, and bidden 
farewell to his household, ere he went forth cheerfully to sec- 
rifice his life in defence of the throne of the Caesars. But the 
heroic effort was in vain. 

The blow long pending had fallen; the Roman Empire 
was no more. 

Sultan Mohammed II., who captured the city of Constan- 
tinople, established an Armenian patriarchate there in 1461, 
A. D. 

The first patriarch was Havaguem, the Bishop of Broosa, 
with certain privileges, and as well as the representative, and 
the responsible one for his nation. 

The first patriarch Havaguem was a friend of the Sultan 
Mohammed II. had two motives in this, first, to have an Ar- 
menian ecclesiastical centre in Constantinople for the nucleus 
of a strong Armenian settlement there, to play ofif against the 
Greeks from whom the city was taken and who might be dan- 
gerous, whereas the feud between Armenians and Greeks 
would make each weaken the other. Second, to have a hos- 
tage for the Armenians, responsible for their not breaking into 
revolt; not at all for the benefit of the Armenians, but for that 
of the Sultan. The same reason obtains to this day; if there 
was no patriarch their cause would be much better off. After 
the establishment of this patriarchate the Armenians had no 
more kings or princes ; their political head was the patriarch. 
Even after the patriarchate was established they were no safer. 
They yielded to the Sultans, they became slaves to the Sultans, 
but the Persian Mohammedans were foes of the Turkish Mo- 
nammedans, and Armenia, as of old in Roman times, was the 
battleground. 

After some bloody conflicts in Persia and Armenia by 
hostile claimants for supremacy over these countries. Shah 
Ismail had found the SufTavean dynasty of Persia in 1499, A. 
D. The Sufifaveans claimed that Ali, the fourth caliph, would 



^6 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

have been the immediate successor of the prophet Mohammed 
and the head of Islamism had Abubekr Omar, and Osman not 
usurped themselves and seized his right. They, moreover, 
claimed lineage from Ali and thus the lawful successors of 
Mohammed. The Osmanli Sultans reptidiated this right and 
descent. This difference between the Mohammedan Turks 
and Persians furnished these two Islam nations with an occa- 
sion of constant war and bloodshed. But alas ! the noble land 
of Ararat had to furnish them the battlefield, and the unfor- 
tunate "House of Togarmah" to suffer the doleful consequen- 
ces of their sanguinary conflicts. 

In the time of Sultan Ahmed and Shah Appas, the latter 
a ''magnificent barbarian," was one of the Shahs of Suffavean 
dynasty, and he, preparing for war with the Turks, fearing 
that he might be compelled to cede Armenia to the latter, he 
gave orders to his army to immediately vacate as many cities 
and towns as possible, and to burn them to ashes, and drive 
the inhabitants into captivity. Within a short time many a 
city and town lay in ruins, and the country was converted into 
a fearful condition of desolation. Thousands sought refuge 
in the mountains and caves. Some found a refuge but others 
found only the enemy, and fourteen thousand families were 
led into captivity. 

This great host of captives was composed of the venerable 
patriarch, bishops, priests, vartabeds, old men and women, 
and children of all ages, mothers with their infants in their 
arms, baptizing them with their tears; the gallant looking 
young men and maidens. These all indiscriminately were 
driven by the Persian soldiers to the bank of the Araxes, where 
some rafts and galleys were in readiness to hasten their cross- 
ing the swift waters of the river. Many gallant husbands and 
knightly brothers who were determined to protect their beau- 
tiful but unfortunate wives and sisters, even unto death, found 
watery graves in the river Araxes from the hands of the brut- 
ally lustful soldiers and officers. Opposite Ispahan these cap- 
tives were settled and built New Jula (some write Julpa). 



AND THE ARMENIANS. "JJ 

The Jula proper in Armenia was destroyed by Shah Abbas. 
The contest between the Turks and Persians over Armenia 
lasted more than two centuries, beginning in 15 12, A. D., by 
Suhan Sehm L, till the early part of the last century. Hardly 
had they signed a treaty of peace when there was another 
power creeping down the Caucasus. Peter the Great of Rus- 
sia was too great to miss the opportunity of taking a portion 
of that historic land at Ararat. His successors too, very 
faithful to the charge delivered to them by him, though faith- 
less to their promises, did the same. 

The Russians contended with the Persians over a portion 
of Armenia and other provinces belonging to the latter from 
1772 — 1829. In this contest the Armenians rendered a signal 
service to the Russians and decided the victory for Russia. 
The promise of liberty for their heroic service and bravery 
made by the Russians was intended to be abject servitude 
and ignominious exile. 

From 18 1 3 to 1829. the Armenians appeared to think their 
emancipation at hand. 

Russia stood in need of them to make a diversion against 
the Ottoman forces, and held out to them the hope of be- 
coming an independent principality, under the protection of the 
Czar. Her promises were believed, and, in their devotion to 
their destined liberator, they withstood for more than six 
v\eeks an army of eighty thousand Persians who were marching 
against Russia, and prevented them from crossing their fron- 
tier, but these services reaped a poor reward, for not only were 
the Russians faithless to their promises, but they seized the 
opportunity of some trifling disturbance in the countrv to lay 
violent hands on the venerable Archbishop Xarses, who was 
dragged in the first place to St. Petersburg, and afterwards ban- 
ished to Bassarabia, whilst several of the Armenian chiefs were 
scattered in exile through foreign countries or carried off to 
Russia to be heard of no more. 

Russia also wrested from the degenerate Turkish Empire 
at times, especially in 1878, after the Russo-Turkish wan a 



^8 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

large territory and the important city of Kars of Armenia. As 
it has been already said, the unfortunate land of Ararat is now 
divided among these three empires, the Russian, Persian and 
Turkish, the largest portion of it being still under the rule of 
the latter. 

From the above brief history given in a cursory manner 
it will be easily understood that the Armenians have been sub- 
jected to all kinds of cruelties. Owing to the calamitous wars, 
merciless persecutions, voluntary and involuntary exiles, and 
emigrations into diiiferent countries, they have been often 
justly compared to the Jews scattered like them all over the 
globe. The Armenians are met with in every commercial city 
throughout Europe and Asia, but the great majority of the 
nation still dwells in the land of Ararat and in the Turkish Em- 
pire. There are over two hundred thousand Armenians ia 
the city of Constantinople, and as many in other cities of Euro- 
pean Turkey and other European countries. 

The number of Armenians in Asia Minor and Armenia 
proper under the Turkish rule does not fall below two millions 
and a half. The three or four vilayets (provinces) of Erzerum, 
Diarbekr, Harpoot, and Kurdistan contain many villages, 
peopled entirely by Armenians, and in these provinces, not- 
withstanding frequent emigration (owing to the atrocities of 
the Kurds and Turks) the Armenians preserve a numerical 
superiority over the Turkish and Turcoman races. 

The Armenians live in their respective villages, towns and 
cities. In those cities and towns where they are not the only 
inhabitants, but there are other nationalties like the Turks 
and Greeks, the Armenians live in certain districts clustered 
by themselves, having a sufficient number of churches and 
schools attached to them for their religious and educational 
wants. The dwellings in the villages and towns in the in- 
terior are of primitive style, cither being of unhewn stone 
entirely, or half of stone and half of sun-dried bricks with flat 
roofs; first large logs or beams laid crosswise and supported 
with strong pillars, then covered with roots and earth and dirt, 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 79 

with a thickness of two or three feet, and then hardened to 
prevent leaking. But sometimes, ''through idleness of the 
hands the house droppeth through." (Ecclesiastes x. i8), 
Proverbs xix. 13, and xxvii. 15.) 

The Armenians living in large towns and cities are en- 
gaged in various occupations of life. The following trades are 
almost exclusively in the hands of the Armenians in Asiatic 
and partly in European Turkey: Locksmithing, blacksmith- 
ing, coppersmithing, goldsmithing, watchmaking, shoemak- 
ing, tailoring, weaving, printing, dyeing, carpentry, masonry, 
architecture, etc. 

And some are grocery, hardware, and all sorts of store- 
keepers, and some others are peddlers, traveling merchants, 
merchants, money brokers, (sarafs), bankers, lawyers and phy- 
sicians. ''The 'Armenian nation,' " says a writer, "is the life of 
Turkey." Another says, "They are a noble race, and have 
been called the Anglo-Saxons of the East. They are an ac- 
tive and enterprising class. Shrewd, industrious and perse- 
vering, they are the bankers of Constantinople, the artisans 
of Turkey, and the merchants of Western and Central Asia." 

Hardly will it be necessary to adduce numerous state- 
ments of many European and American observers, some of 
whom know the Armenians far better than many an Armenian 
himself, but let us suffice with the following testimony of Rev. 
Dr. H. G. O. Dwight, one of the first missionaries of the 
American Board among the Armenians. 

"The principal merchants are Armenians, and nearly all 
the great bankers of the (Turkish) governments; and whatever 
arts there are that require peculiar ingenuity and skill, they 
are almost sure to be in the hands of Armenians, in one word, 
they are the Anglo-Saxons of the East." 

The above statements are made undoubtedly and com- 
paratively of the modern Armenians, but in order that the 
reader might not be misled to lightly think of the Armenians of 
old as lacking the ingenuity, skill, and the spirit of enterprise 
we will cite also the statements from secular and sacred his- 



80 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

tory to show that the ancient Armenians were not much he- 
hind the Anglo-Saxonism of the Armenians of the present 
time. 

Herodotus, the great historian, who hved in the fifth cen- 
tury before the Christian era, tells us that next to the marvel- 
ous city of Babylon were the boats, constructed in Armenia 
by the Armenian merchants in the following manner: — 

"But the greatest wonder of all that I saw in the land, 
after the city itself, I will now proceed to mention. The boats 
which came down the river (Euphrates to Babylon are circu- 
lar, and made of skin. The frames, which are of willow, are 
cut in the country of the Armenians above Assyria, and on 
these, which serve for hulls, a covering of skin is stretched 
outside, and thus the boats are made, without either stem or 
stern, iiite round like a shield. They are then entirely filled 
with straw, and their cargo is put on board, after which they 
are suffered to float down the stream. Their chief freight is 
wine, stored in casks made of the wood of the palm-tree. 
They are managed by two men, who stand upright in them, 
each plying an oar, one pulling and the other pushing. The 
boats are of various sizes, some larger, some smaller; the 
biggest reach as high as five thousand talents burthen. Each 
vessel has a live ass on board; those of large size have more 
than one. When they reach Babylon the cargo is landed and 
offered for sale, after which the men break up their boats, 
sell the straw and frames, and loading their asses with the 
skins, set off on their way back to Armenia. The current is 
too strong to allow a boat to return up-stream, for which rea- 
son they make their boats of skins rather than wood. On 
their return to Armenia they build fresh boats for the next 
voyage." "^ 

The prophet Ezekiel, in his enumeration of the ancient 
merchant nations who were engaged in mercantile pursuits 
with the merchant nations of the Phoenicians in the marts of 
the commercial city of Tyre, speaks of the Armenians under 

*Rawlinson's Herodotus, book 1, page 194. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 8l 

the popular appellation of "the house of Togarmah," "They of 
the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and 
horsemen and mules." (Ezekiel xxvii., 14). 

The descendants of Togarmah, on account of their in- 
dustry, ingenuity, and intelligence, have accumulated great 
wealth, and demanded, yea extorted, from the indolent Turks 
high trusts in the government and its afifairs; but by the 
jealousy, cruelty, and cupidity of the latter, many of them 
have been precipitated from their elevated state and prosperity 
into terrible misery, often ending only with execution, as the 
following and similar inscriptions on their tombstones and 
on the pages of history will abundantly prove: — 

"The most remarkable circumstance is that those Arme- 
nians who have undergone execution ha^e the modes of 
their death commemorated on their sepulchres by the effigies 
of men being hung, strangled or beheaded. In explanation it 
is stated that having become wealthy by their industry, they 
suffered as victims tO' the cupidity of former governments, not 
as criminals; and hence their ignominious death was really 
honorable to them and worthy of a memorial. An inscription 
on one of the tombs of this class is as follows: — 

"You see my place of burial here in this verdant field. 

I give my goods to the robbers, 

My soul to the regions of death; 

The world I leave to God, 

And my blood I shed in the Holy Spirit. 

You who meet my tomb. 

Say for me 

'Lord, I have sinned.' 

1 197."* 

It was Sultan Mohammed II. who first appointed Bishop 
Havaguam, of Broussa, patriarch over the Armenians in his 
dominions in 1461. This custom of appointing of the patri- 
archs by the Sultans of Turkey continued for a long time. 
But it did not prove to be the proper way on account of the 

♦The Turkish Empire, page 261. 



82 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

abuses of procuring the office, and unqualified persons often 
obtaining the appointment by the influence of their friends. 

The nation, therefore, obtained the right of appointing 
their own patriarch from the Porte; this national appointment, 
however, had to be ratified by the Sultan of Turkey. 

At two different times two more grants were received 
from the Porte, namely, to have two distinct councils, the one 
ecclesiastical and the other civil. The former was composed 
of fourteen clergymen, the latter of twenty members from the 
laity, and the members of these councils were also elected by 
universal suffrage; the patriarch was the chairman of both of 
those councils. 

The Ecclesiastical Council has its sphere of action in re- 
ligious matters and is the highest authority in the Turkish Em- 
pire. The Civil Council is the civil authority, and has four sub- 
councils under its supervision through which to operate, 
namely : Council of Revenue, Council of Expenditure, Judica- 
tory Council, and Educational Council. These names indi- 
cate the sphere of their activity. This mode of operation or 
division of the work is carried out into the provinces of the 
Turkish Empire, wherever there are sufficient Armenians to 
justify the existence of these councils. And all the councils 
and sub-councils in the provinces and in the districts of the 
capital are amenable to the General Ecclesiastical and Civil 
Councils, and these councils are responsible to the patriarch 
and the patriarch to the Porte, 

Although such grants have been made and privileges ac- 
corded and many other promises of reforms uttered and re- 
corded by the Turkish government at various times to amelio- 
rate the oppressed condition of the Armenians, yet most of 
these grants, privileges, and promises now have their exist- 
ence only as dead letters. 

It has been said before that the Armenians are now, 
more or less, scattered all over the globe, like the Jews. The 
condition of this in India is far better than that of those in 
Persia, Turkey and Russia. Being subject to a comparatively 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 83 

just and Christian government they enjoy all civil and religions 
privileges, consequently they are both wealthy and influential, 
and some hold important positions in the queen's government 
in India. 

At Calcutta they have a bishop, churches, schools, and an 
Armenian press. They have better educational advantages, 
both in the English and the Armenian languages. The Arme- 
nians are also conversant with the language of the country, 
wherever they are found. 

The Armenians in Persia, or under the Persian rule, have 
not a very desirable condition, from a religious and educa- 
tional point of view. And those especially living in Western 
Persia, or Pers-Armenia, are also subject to all sorts of cruel- 
ties by the hands of the Kurds, with whom they unfortunately 
live. 

The most of them, however, are at this time free from 
the present tribulation that their brethren are undergoing in 
the hands of "the unspeakable Turk." In the summer of 1890 
many Armenians found refuge in Persia from the atrocities of 
the Kurds and Turks. The Shah of Persia is very anxious to 
get as many Armenians as possible into his kingdom, know- 
ing the value of their industry, intelligence and useful occu- 
pations. 

Russia having wrested from Persia and Turkey a large 
portion of Armenia in this century, there are now over one 
million Armenians in the Russian provinces of Armenia, be- 
side a good number of those in the commercial cities of the 
same empire. 

The financial condition of the Armenians in Russia might 
be pronounced pretty fair. "The Anglo-Saxons of the East" 
have proved their shrewdness in business and industry; in 
character there, too, and according to a recent writer, in the 
city of Titlis money is controlled by the Armenians. But from 
a religious and national point of view the Armenians in Rus- 
sia are in a serious danger. The policy of the government is 
to Russianize other nations, both ethnically and ecclesiastically. 



84 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

The Russian government took occasion of a trifling disturb- 
ance and issued an order to take possession of the Armenian 
schools, and this order was carried out by mihtary force in 
1885, while the late Catholicos has not yet succeeded to his 
predecessor's vacant post. 

The properties, consisting in real estate of the monastery 
of Echmiadzin, where the seat of the Catholicos is, were seized 
upon by the government, and the monastery and its schools 
were supported by the governmental money for a few years, 
but this support was gradually reduced, so much so that now 
the inmates of the monastery can hardly live on it, and the 
monastery is not able to support any schools as it used to do 
before with the plenteous income from the numerous villages 
and farms. 

The very country where the forefathers of the Armenians 
lived centuries before the Russian nation had any existence, 
or if any, it was in the embryonic state among the barbarous 
Scythians, and by the very bravery and lives of many Armeni- 
ans this country was extorted from the Turks for Russia^ and 
it is strange, but nevertheless a fact, that the Armenian can- 
mot own land in his own country, because he is a subject of 
the Russian government. 

In the summer of 1890, while the country of Armenia, un- 
der the Turkish rule, was in a turbulent condition, some Ar- 
menians crossed the boundary line and fled into an Armenian 
monastery in Russian Armenia for a refuge from the Kurds 
and Turks. Most naturally were they protected and cared 
for by the priests and monks in the monastery. This was a 
pretense for the government to demand, or rather order, the 
imprisonment, and afterwards the exile, of those clergymen 
who sympathized with their persecuted brethren and cared for 
them. 

It will be a violation of our intention and the limits of 
brevity of this present work to dilate on this subject, to point 
out the unjust policy of the Russian government, and her 
constant effort to absorb the Armenian nation and church in 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 85 

her dominions by compulsive teaching of Russian language 
instead of the Armenian in the Armenian schools. 

The Armenians have, unfortunately, learned cordially to 
hate the Turks on account of their cruelties for centuries. The 
Russians also are making themselves as detestable as the 
Turks, not only to the Armenians, but also to all other na- 
tions who love justice and delight in mercy. 

The Armenians now number more than four million in 
different countries in the world, of whom, two million, five 
hundred thousand are in the Turkish Empire ; one million, five 
hundred thousand are in Russian Armenia and other 
parts of the same empire; five hundred thousand are scattered 
through Persia, India, Burmah, Egypt and other parts of 
Asia; one hundred thousand are scattered through Europe 
and the United States; the total number of Armenians being 
four million, six hundred thousand on the globe. 

Probably about one half of the population of Turkish 
Armenia now is Mohammedan, composed of Turks and 
Kurds. The former are mostly found in and near the large 
cities, such as Ezzingan, Baibourt, Erzerum and Van, and the 
plains along the northern part. The Kurds live in their moun- 
tain villages over the whole region. The term Kurdistan, 
Vvliich in this region the Turkish government is trying to sub- 
stitute for the historical one Armenia, has no political or geo- 
graphical propriety except as indicating the much larger area 
over which the Kurds are scattered. In this vague sense it 
applies to a stretch of mountainous country about fifteen hun- 
dred miles in length, starting between trzingan and Alalatiah, 
and sweeping east and south over in Persia as far as Karman- 
shah. 

The number of the Kurds is very uncertain, neither the 
Sultan nor the Shah of Persia, ever attempted a census of 
them; and as they are very indifferent taxpayers, the revenue 
tables — wilfully distorted for political purposes — are quite un- 
reliable. 

From the estimates of British consular offtcers there ap- 



86 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

pear to be about one and a half million Turkish Kurds, of 
whom about six hundred thousand are in the vilayets of Erz- 
erum, Van and Bitlis, and the rest in the vilayets of Harpoot, 
Diarbekr, Mosul, and Bagdad. This is a very liberal estimate. 
There are also supposed to be about seven hundred and fifty 
thousand in Persia. 



CHAPTER IV. 

WHAT WAS THE RELIGION OF THE ARMENIAN NATION BEFORE 
THE CONVERTED OF CHRISTIANITY. 

It is not possible to give specific information on the 
original forms of the religion of the Armenian race. The 
culture and civilization of the West had begun to penetrate 
into Armenia with the victorious legions of the Greeks and 
Romans. Another of the many deluges which have swept 
over this unhappy land was showing tokens of subsidence, 
and the ark was once more nearing a place of rest. 

We have acknowledged from the book of Genesis, "And 
Noah builded an altar unto the Lord" (Genesis ix., 20.) 

The Bible, modern scholarship, and the Armenian tradi- 
tion concur on the question that the ark of Noah rested ''upon 
the mountains of Ararat," or Armenia. Again, we learn from 
the Bible that ''God spake unto Noah, saying, "Go forth out 
of the ark," and Noah came out of the ark and all those that 
were with him, and he builded an altar unto the Lord, "and 
offered burnt offerings on the altar." This fact will entitle 
Armenia to claim to be the country where a true and pure 
divine worship was first practised after the Deluge. The tra- 
dition of the Armenians coincides with the fact in stating that 
the primitive religion of the people was simple and pure 
monotheism, in form patriarchal, Noachian. This tradition 
has for its support both the Bible and the science of rehgion. 

Prof. Max MuUer tells us that "religion is not a new in- 
vention. It is, if not as old as the world, at least as old as the 
world we know. As soon, almost, as we know anything of 
the thoughts and feelings of man, we find him in possession 
of religion, or rather possessed by religion." Thus find we 



88 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Noah and his descendants in possession of or rather possessed 
by rehgion. 

The Bible furnishes sufBcient facts to assert that this pure 
monotheistic worship in its patriarchal form was perpetuated 
among the descendants of Noah, especially in the family of 
Shem. More than four centuries after the building of the first 
altar unto the Lord we find Abraham called out of his coun- 
try and the people by Jehovah, to become the head of a nation 
through whom the knowledge of the only one true God should 
be perpetuated. God's calling Abraham out of his country and 
people was not to make him a true worshipper of Himself, 
but He said to him, "I will make of thee a great nation." 

Another example of the true worshipper of God in the 
time of Abraham was Melchizedek (king of righteousness), 
''King of Salem (peace), who was the high priest of the most 
high God." (Genesis xiv., i8). Melchizedek was not only a 
monotheist, but also the priest of a Monotheistic faith. He 
reigned over his people and on whose behalf he officiated as 
the high priest of the most high God. Now, therefore, it ought 
to be admitted that not only solitary individuals like Abram 
and Melchizedek, but the people of the latter also were the 
true worshippers of God. Another example: Job, his family 
and his friends, they were also true worshippers of God. They 
belonged to the eastern nations, they might be from Armenia. 

The Bible is not a universal history, were it so, well might 
we have expected it to mention other nations and their re- 
ligious beliefs; though what little it incidentally gives, or states 
in regard to them is marveloifSly accurate. 

The Armenian tradition that their primitive religion was 
pure monotheism, therefore, is neither incredible nor unten- 
able, but on the contrary it is most probable and almost cer- 
tain, supported by the analogy of the Bible. 

The investigations of modern scholarship maintain the 
idea and render it almost a moral demonstration that the 
primitive religions of the ancient nations were of a Monotheis- 
tic type, if not a pure Monotheism, at least they were not very 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 89 

far from it. Prof. Max Muller, of Oxford, England, in his 
lectures on the ''Origin and Growth of Rehgion," says that 
''The ancient Aryans felt from the beginning, aye, it may be, 
more in the beginning than afterwards, the presence of a Be- 
yond, of an Infinite, of a Divine, or whatever else we may call 
it now; and they tried to grasp, and comprehend it, as we all 
do, by giving to it name after name." It is conceded by the 
scholars that the ancient Armenians were closely connected 
with the ancient Aryans, that they were Aryans and their 
legitimate descendants now speak a language which modern 
ethnologists decidedly pronounce to belong to the Aryans cr 
Indo-Germanic. Although we do not know when the separa- 
tion of the Aryans took place, we can safely say that the above 
statement of Prof. Max Muller is also perfectly applicable to 
the ancient Armenians, yet we are not able to say how long 
such a purity of faith lasted in Armenia. 

The human mind is capable of progress, but when it is 
left to itself is sure to retrograde and deg-enerate. This is veri- 
fied in the case of almost all nations and in the history of all 
religions of the world. 

"That religion is liable to corruption is surely seen again 
and again. In one sense the history of most religions might 
be called a slow corruption of their primitive purity." Divine 
aid, especially in religion, is therefore absolutely necessary for 
a true progress. Armenia left to herself fell into a gross form 
of idolatry. 

Her fall must have been hastened, if not caused, by her 
idolatrous neighbors, the Babylonians and Assyrians. For the 
idolatry which we find in the early history of the Armenians is 
decidedly like that of Assyro-Babylonians. It is not the same 
religion adopted and practised by the Armenians, but it is mod- 
elled after the Assyrian. 

Anterior to the cuneiform inscriptions of Armenia, the 
people must have had an idolatry similar to the Sabeism of 
Babylonia, which was afterwards shaped to the Assyrian style, 
with its distinctive character. One of the inscriptions fur- 



90 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

nishes us with a long list of the gods and the regulations for 
sacrifices daily to be offered to them. 

There are, however, three other gods, which stood apart 
by themselves at the head of the Pantheon. These are Khal- 
dis, Teisbas (the air god), and Adinis (the sun god). But Khal- 
dis is the supreme god and the father of other gods; and in 
addition to these every tribe, city and fortress seem to have 
its respective god. Some other gods are Anis or Avis (the 
water god), Agas (the earth god), Dhuspuas (the god of Tosp, 
the ancient name of the city of Van), Selardis, (the moon god), 
Sardis, (the year god). The Armenians in this period, do not 
seem to have any goddess. Soris is found only once men- 
tioned in the inscriptions and is translated, "queen," yet it is 
supposed to have been borrowed from the Assyrian, Istar. 
Whether all the other gods are the children of the supreme 
god Khaldis, or they are subordinate to him and separate from 
his numerous offsprings, it is not quite clear. The latter, how- 
ever, is most likely the case, because the Khaldians (the chil- 
dren of Khaldis) and other gods have their separate offerings 
assigned to them according to their importance. 

It has been said that the Armenian culture, civilization, 
and religion were very much influenced by the Assyrians while 
the latter were in the height of their power. From the follow- 
ing citation it will be seen a resemblance of the religions of 
these two nations and they might have also the same origin 
and the growth: — 

"The rise of Semitic supremacy was marked by the reigns 
of Sargon I. and his son, Noram-Sin. The overthrow of Sar- 
gon's dynasty, however, was soon brought about through the 
conquest of Babylonia by Khammaragas, a Kossacon from 
the mountains of Elam. Before the Kossocan conquest the 
Babylonian system of religion was already complete. It 
emanated from the primitive Accadian population, though it 
was afterwards adopted and transformed by their Semitic suc- 
cessors. The sorcerer took the place of the priest, magical in- 
cantations the place of the ritual, and the innumerable spirits 
the place of gods. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. QI 

By degrees, however, these earher conceptions became 
modified, a priesthood began to estabhsh itself; and as a nec- 
essary consequence some of the elemental spirits were raised 
to the rank of deities. 

The old magical incantations, too, gave way to hymns in 
honor of the new gods, among whom the sun god was espe- 
cially prominent, and these hymns came in time to form a col- 
lection similar to that of the Hindu Rig- Veda, and were ac- 
counted equally sacred. This process of religious development 
was assisted by the Semitic occupation of Babylonia. The 
Semites brought with them new theological conceptions. 
With them the sun god, in his two-fold aspect of benefactor 
and destroyer, was the supreme object of worship, all other 
deities being resolvable into phases or attributes of the su- 
preme Baal. At his side stood his female double and reflection, 
the goddess of fertility, who was found again under various 
names and titles at the side of every other deity. The union 
of these Semitic religious conceptions with the developing creed 
of Accad produced a state religion, watched over and directed 
by a powerful priesthood, which continued more or less unal- 
tered down to the days of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors. 

It was this state-religion that was carried by Semitic As- 
syrians into their homes on the banks of the Tigris, where it 
underwent one or two modifications; in all essential respects, 
however, it remained unchanged. 

With the rise of the Medo-Persian Empire a new religion 
rises from obscurity to prominence in Western Asia. This is 
the religion of Zoroaster. This was the religion with which 
Christianity had so nobly contended since the introduction of 
the latter into Armenia, until the former, in complete despair 
and as a vanquished foe, almost disappeared from existence. 
It is generally believed that Zoroaster was a real person and 
the founder of this religion, which is called after his name, 
Zoroastrianism. There is, however, a great uncertainty about 
the period of his earthly existence; some would make him a 
contemporary with Moses, and others with David and Solo- 



92 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

mon. It is very probable, however, that he lived even in a good 
deal later period than these Israelitish kings. 

Zoroastrianism is a dualistic reHgion. It teaches that 
there are two uncreated beings, Ormazed, the supreme good, 
and Ahriman, the evil; and Ormazed created the earth, the 
heavens, and the man, and that man is created free. Ahriman 
is the evil and evil-doer, and in constant war with Ormazed; 
this world is their battle-field. There are inferior good spirits 
which are called genii, who are the instruments of Ormazed, 
but the fire alone was the personification of the son of Ormazed, 
and therefore an object of veneration and worship. 

The abominable religion of the ancient Babylonians must 
have had a great influence even over the religion of Zoroaster, 
for we find that the Persians and Armenians had also similar 
gods, Hke Mithea, sungod, and Anahita, the goddess of water. 
The magi were the priests of Zoroastrianism, with a high priest 
of this order who was called in Armenian language Mogbed, 
(the head or the leader of magi). No doubt this was the re- 
ligion of the Armenians for nearly nine centuries, from the 
end of the seventh century B. C, to the end of the third century 
of our era (or A. C). Possibly there weric some modifications 
and additions from the Grecian polytheism after the conquest 
of Alexander the Great. 




ABGAR, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN KING ON THE EARTH. 



CHAPTER V. 

FIRST INTRODUCTION OF THE GOSPEL IN ARMENIA. 

At the time of our Lord's birth, Armenia was divided into 
separate portions, called respectively Great and Little 
Armenia. 

The latter district extended from the Gordyian Moun- 
tains to the Euphrates, and had as its capital the Greek city 
of Nieibis (or Niezib, in Turkish). Greek art and civilization 
had long exercised a great influence upon the whole of Syria 
and Mesopotamia; but the Roman and Greek writers seem to 
regard the Kingdom of Osroene or Osrhoene, as that of Ar- 
menia Minor was generally styled, as in large measure Syrian. 
As is well known, the Roman government claimed the suze- 
rainty over Mesopotamia; and Arsham, who died King of 
Osrhoene in B. C. 3, and left his title to his son Abgar, was 
in reality little else than their deputy, holding his position 
like Herod the Great in Palestine, only by the favor of his 
emperial master. 

Abgar, being devoted to the service of the heathen gods, 
refused to permit the image of Augustus to be erected in 
the temples of his dominions. Herod Antipas, learning this, 
laid a charge against him before the emperor, and accused 
him of disloyalty. Finding that all his efforts to clear him- 
self were in vain and offended at the treatment accorded at 
Rome to the ambassadors he had sent to plead his cause, 
Abgar determined to revolt from the Roman yoke, and to 
cast in his lot with kindred family who then held the throne 
of Persia. With this object in view he removed the seat of 
rule the Nieibis to Edessa, and began to strongly fortify 
the latter city. Moses of Khorene tells us that the King 



94 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

carried with him to his new capital the images of the gods 
whom he worshipped and the rehgioiis archives stored up in 
the temples at Nieibis. Just when Abgar thought everything 
was ripe for rebellion, relying on the assistance of the Parthi- 
ans, Arshavir, the Parthian King, died and left his kingdom 
a prey to confusion and civil war. Abgar felt himself called 
upon to restore order, and accordingly marched into Persia 
and put an end to the strife which had there broken out 
between the rival claimants to the vacant throne (A. D. 21). 
This expedition, through God's good providence, was over- 
ruled to the conversion of Abgar, and to the opening up of 
both Armenia and Persia to the light of the Gospel. The 
story is told by Eusebius and by the ancient Armenian his- 
torian, Moses of Khorene, who profess to have learnt it 
from the archives of the kingdom of Osroene, written in 
Syriac. 

On his expedition to Persia, Abgar was struck with a very 
severe illness, which some Armenian writers tell us was lep- 
rosy, and which all the skill of his court physicians was power- 
less to heal. While in vain that the Roman Emperor Tiberius 
had been informed of his intended rebellion, and believing 
that Abgar's expedition into Persia had been undertaken 
mainly with the hope of entering into an alliance with that 
empire, was about to inflict on him condign punishment. In 
order to avert this, Abgar in the first place entered into an 
alliance with Aretes, King of Arabia Nabataca, whose daughter 
Herod Antipas had divorced, and sent a body of Armenian 
troops to aid Aratos in his war against Herod. Herod's army 
was defeated with great slatighter; but the Romans, hearing 
of the trouble brewing in Armenia, Mesopotamia and Syria, 
sent Marinus to Csesarea as governor, with a large army, with 
orders to restore order. Hearing of this, Abgar sent three 
Armenian nobles of high rank to Marinus at Caesarea, together 
with a copy of the treaty he had made with Artoshes, the 
new King of Persia, that the Romans might understand that 
he was loyal in his allegiance to the Emperor, and had no 
intention of rebelling. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 95 

The ambassadors were received with great honor by 
Marinus at Eleutheropohs, and succeeded in their efforts to 
prevent a breach between the Emperor and King Abgar. 
But their visit to Palestine had another and a far more im- 
portant result, for there had heard the fame of Jesus of Naza- 
reth, whose miracles of healing were then attracting great 
attention; of some of these they were enabled to become eye- 
witnesses themselves. On their return to Armenia, these 
nobles, remembering that their sovereign had completely 
failed to obtain healing by ordinary means, informed him of 
the miraculous power and the Messianic claims of Jesus. 

The whole Eastern world was, as Suetonius informs us, 
at that time full of expectation that a great ruler would soon 
appear in Judea, and establish his dominion over the whole 
world. The coincidence between the Messianic prophecies 
and hopes of the Jews on the one hand, and the strange and 
only slightly less clear traditions of the advent of a great De- 
liverer preserved in the Zend Avesta of Persia and the Sibyl- 
line books of ancient Rome and represented to us by Virgil's 
glorious Fourth Eclogue, on the other, had doubtless turned 
towards Jerusalem the eyes of pious and truth-seeking men 
everywhere. The visit of the Persian Magi to the Infant 
at Bethlehem is only one indication of the extent of this ex- 
pectant longing. It is not at all unlikely, therefore, that Abgar, 
on hearing the report of his messengers, was greatly stirred. 
At last the long-expected prince had appeared and not 
only so, but was actually healing in Galilee and Judea those 
alTflicted with diseases which no human skill could cure. 
Abgar's bodily affliction naturally made him the more anxious 
to benefit at least by the healing power of our Saviour, and 
the news which his messengers brought him left no doubt 
of his willingness and ability to grant his request. 

Abgar, therefore, wrote a letter to Christ, and sent it 
to Him to Jerusalem by the hands of his courier Ananias. 
Later Armenian accounts state that Ananias was also ac- 
companied by an able portrait painter, who had received orders 



g6 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

from the King to request permission to paint Christ's picture 
and bring it back with him to Edessa to Abgar, in case the 
Saviour Himself dechned to accede to the King's written 
request that He would come and heal him of his illness. 

The King also directed his messengers to offer sacrifices 
to the true God in his temple at Jerusalem. 

They reached the Holy City on the very day of Christ's 
triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and endeavored to approach 
Him in order to present the King's letter to Him. Not being 
able to do so, however, they gave it to Philip, and asked him 
to deliver it and to procure them an audience. This, we are 
told, is the meaning of the incident recorded in the twelfth 
chapter of St. John's Gospel (vv. 20-34), where certain Greeks, 
who had come up to worship at the Feast of the Passover, 
were presented to our Lord. Christ saw in them the repre- 
sentatives of the heathen world, then longingly looking for 
some one to give them the light of life, and prophesied that 
His crucifixion would draw all men unto Him (ver. 32). The 
Armenian tradition that these "Greeks" were Abgar's messen- 
gers has nothing directly contrary to it in the use of the word 
"Greeks" in the original, since this word is often used in 
the New Testament to denote any who were not Jews. 

The tradition is at least as old as Moses of Khorene (died 
A. D. 487), who mentions it as an undisputed fact (Paton- 
Hayots-Hat. ii. Kl. 29), and was probably believed long before 
then, for in the ancient Armenian version of the New Testa- 
ment made by St. Mesrap (died A. D. 441), the word Greeks 
in this passage is translated merely "heathens." 

Eusebius, and after him Moses of Khorene, gives a ver- 
sion of the letter which King Abgar is said to have addressed 
to Christ on this occasion, and which Eusebius tells us was 
still preserved in his own time in the hbrary at Edessa (Uorfa 
in Turkish), Although all modern critics rightly regard this 
letter and our Lord's supposed reply to it as undoubtedly 
spurious, it may be of interest to enter them both here in order 
to complete the narrative. Abgar's letter ran as follows : 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 97 

Abgar, Toporch of Edessa, to Jesus the good Saviour, 
who has appeared in Jerusalem, greeting : 

"I have heard of Thee and Thy cures, which are being 
performed by Thee without drugs and medicines. For, as 
report says, Thou dost cause the bhnd to recover sight, the 
lame to walk, and Thou cleansest lepers, and drivest out un- 
clean spirits and demons, and healest those tormented with 
long-continued sickness, and raisest the dead, and having 
heard all these things about Thee, I decided in my mind on one 
of two conclusions — either that Thou art God, and having 
come down from heaven Thou doest these things — or that, 
doing these things. Thou art the Son of God. 

"Therefore, I now write and entreat of Thee to take the 
trouble to come to me, and to heal the disease which I have. 
For indeed I hear that the Jews are murmuring against Thee 
and wish to do Thee violence. I have a very small and noble 
city, which will suffice for us both." (Euseb. Eccl. Hist, i., 13; 
M. Khorene, Paton, Hayots, Hat. ii., Kl. 99). 

When our Lo*rd had this letter and saw Abgar's faith 
in Him, he directed Thomas to write a reply to it from His 
own dictation, in the following terms: 

Blessed art thou, who hast believed in Me without having 
seen Me. For it is written concerning Me that those who 
have seen Me will not believe IMe, and that those who have 
not seen Me shall themselves believe and live. But where 
thou didst write to Me to come to thee it is necessary that I 
should here accomplish all those things for which I was sent, 
and that, after having accomplished them, I should then be 
taken up to Him who sent Me; and when I am taken up, I 
shall send unto thee a certain one of My disciples, that he 
may heal thy sickness and give life to thee and to those that 
are with thee. 

Having received this letter, Abgar's messengers entreated 
permission to paint a portrait of Christ, in accordance with 
their master's orders. The required permission was accorded 
them, but the painter's hand refused to perform its task in 



98 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

delineating Christ's divine features. Seeing this, the Saviour 
took a towel and applying it to His countenance, impressed 
upon it a marvellously correct picture''"' of Himself, and sent 
it to Abgar with the letter above quoted, intending thereby 
to relieve his sufferings and strengthen his faith. Abgar, on 
reading the letter and receiving the portrait, worshipped the 
letter, and took courage, looking hopefully for the fulfilment 
of Christ's promise to send him a teacher to instruct and heal 
him. 

This story as here related bears distinct marks of a later 
age, and it has received much embellishment from later Ar- 
menian writers which is not to be met with in Moses of Kho- 
rene or in Eusebius. The story of the portrait and of the 
worship paid to it by Abgar could not have originated until the 
worship of pictures had been introduced into the church. 
The letters ascribed to Abgar and to Christ bear evident marks 
of a clumsy forgery. The account of the interview which 
Abgar's messengers had with our Lord is possibly but not 
probably true. On the other hand, it seenls rash to reject the 
whole narrative (as many writers do) as fabulous. 

It may, perhaps, be better to hold that a certain substra- 
tum or residum of fact underlies the tale. It is certainly 
neither impossible nor improbable, taking into consideration 
all the circumstances of the case, that the fame of our Lord's 
miracles of healing may have reached Edessa, and that Abgar's 
illness may have led him to look longingly for the arrival in 
his country of a disciple of Christ able to heal him. This would 
prepare the way for a favorable reception being given to the 
earliest preachers of the Gospel on their arrival in Mesopota- 
mia and Osraene, which must have taken place soon after 
the Ascension. 

After that Jesus was received up, says the old Syriac docu- 
ment quoted by Eusebius. Judas (who is also called Thomas) 
sent up to him (Abgar) as an apostle Thaddeus, one of the 

* See Appendix. 




THADDAEUS AND BARTHOLOMEW, 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 99 

seventy. He coming dwelt with Tobias, the son of Tobias, 
and when news was heard concerning him, it was told to 
Abgar, saying: ''An apostle of Jesus has come hither, accord- 
ing as He wrote unto thee." Thaddeus accordingly began in 
the power of God to heal every sickness and every disease, 
so that all men did marvel. But when Abgar heard of the 
might and wonderful works which he did, and how he healed, 
he suspected that this was he of whom Jesus had written, say- 
ing: "When I am taken up, I shall send unto thee a certain 
one of My disciples, who shall heal thy sickness." 

Having, therefore, called for Tobias, with whom abode, 
he said, "I have heard that a certain mighty man has come 
and has abode in thy house ; bring him unto me." And Tobias 
came unto Thaddeus, and said to him: "Abgar the Tbporch 
called for me and bade me bring thee to him, in order that thou 
mightest heal his sickness." And Thaddeus said, "I go up, 
since I have been sent unto him with might." Tobias, there- 
fore, having risen early on the morrow, and taking Thaddeus 
with him, came to Abgar. And when he came suddenly upon 
his entrance the King's nobles also being present and standing 
there, a great sight was manifested to Abgar in the counte- 
nance of the apostle, Thaddeus. And when Abgar saw this 
he worshipped Thaddeus. Astonishment also fell upon all 
those that stood by. For they did not see the sight, which 
appeared to Abgar only. And he asked Thaddeus, "Art thou 
in truth a disciple of Jesus the son of God, who said unto 
me, T shall send to thee a certain one of my disciples, who 
shall heal thee and give thee life?-" And Thaddeus said, 
"since thou hast firmly believed in Him who sent me, there- 
fore was I sent unto thee. And again, if thou believest in 
Him, according as thou believest the desires of thine heart 
shall be granted thee." And Abgar said unto him, "I believe 
in Him so much that I desired to take a force and destroy the 
Jews who crucified Him, only that I was hindered from doing 
so by the empire of the Romans." And Thaddeus said, "Our 
Lord Jesus hath fulfilled the will of His Father, and having 



lOO ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

fulfilled it He was received up unto His Father." Abgar saith 
to him, "I also have believed in Him and in His Father." And 
Thaddeus saith, "I therefore lay my hand upon thee in His 
name." And when he had done this, he was imme- 
diately healed of the sickness and the disease which 
he had. And Abgar marvelled that, according as he 
had heard Jesus, so had he received in reality from His 
disciple Thaddeus, who had healed him without drugs and 
medicines. And not only so, but Abdus also, the son of 
Abgar, who had the gout. For the latter also, coming for- 
ward, fell at his feet. And Thaddeus, having prayed, took him 
by the hand, and healed him. Many others also of their fel- 
low citizens did the same Thaddeus heal, doing wondrous and 
great things, and preaching the Word of God. But after 
these things Abgar said, "Thou, O Thaddeus, by the power of 
God doest these things, and we ourselves marvel at thee. But 
beside these things I entreat of thee to narrate to me concern- 
ing the advent of Jesus, how it took place, and concerning His 
power, and by what power He used to do these things of 
which we have heard." And Thaddeus said, "I shall be silent 
for the present, since I was sent to preach the Word. But on 
the morrow assemble unto me all thy citizens, and unto them 
I shall preach the Word of God, and I shall tell them about 
the advent of Jesus, how it took place and about His mission, 
and why He was sent forth by the Father, and concerning the 
might of His works, and the mysteries which He proclaimed 
in the world, and by what power He did these things, and 
concerning His new proclamation, and concerning His love- 
liness and humiliation, and how He humbled Himself and 
died, and how He lessened His divine nature, and was cru- 
cified, and descended into Hades, and rent in twain the middle 
wall or partition which had not been rent from eternity, and 
raised the dead. For having descended alone. He 
raised up many with Him unto His Father, and then 
in this way He ascended." Abgar accordingly gave 
orders that early on the morrow all his citizens should 



AND THE ARMENIANS. lOI 

come together and should hear the preaching of Thad- 
deus, and after these things he commanded to give him gold 
and treasure. But Thaddeus would not accept it, saying, "If 
we have left our own, how shall we accept the things of 
others?'' These things were done 1865 years ago. 

Eusebius adds that the result of Thaddeus' work at Edessa 
was the conversion of those that were healed and their admis- 
sion into the number of Christ's disciples, and states that, in 
consequence of this, the wdiole of the people of Edessa had 
remained Christians even up to his own time (Eccl. Hist. ii. i). 
This, however, is incorrect; though many were Christians in 
Eusebius' days. 

Armenian writers inform us that Thaddeus, having thus 
converted Abgar and his people, baptized them, and then pro- 
ceeded to erect a large church in the city of Edessa. He also 
consecrated as bishop of the city a pious convert named Adde, 
a silkmaker, who had previously been employed to make a 
royal tiara for Abgar. After his conversion, Abgar, filled with 
zeal for the Gospel, wrote letters to the Emperor Tiberius and 
to the King of Syria, and to Artashes, King of Persia, inviting 
them to receive the Gospel and accept Christ, as their Lord 
and Saviour. 

Three years after his conversion Abgar died, and was 
buried in Edessa (A. D. 35). 

His widow Helene, was also an earnest Christian.* When 
some years later banished from Edessa by Sanatrouk, she went 
to her native city, Haran, and there ruled for a time. She is 
also said to have been queen of Adiabene. Somewhat later she 
went to Jerusalem, and Josephus tells usf that during the great 
famine in Claudius' time (Acts xi., 28), she bought a great 
quantity of corn in Egypt and, at enormous expense, had it 
carried to Jerusalem and distributed it to the poor. When she 

♦This is what Moses of Khorene says (Patur, Hayots, Hat. ii., Kl 32), 
but Josephus rails her queen of Adiabene, and gives quite a different account 
of her, saying that she became a Jewess, (Aut. xx., 2). 

t(Jos. Aut. XX., 2). 



I02 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

died, a noble tomb was erected to her memory in the suburbs 
of the Holy City, in memorial of her beneficence. 

After founding the Christian Church in Edessa, Thad- 
deus went to Armenia proper, to the district Artoz or Shavor- 
shan, which was at that time ruled over by Sanatrouk, Abgar's 
sister's son. The latter received him kindly, and gave him 
every opportunity of preaching the Gospel to the people. 

As a result of this it is said that Sanatrouk and his 
daughter Sandoukht, together with not a few nobles and very 
many of the common people, were converted and received 
baptism. Thaddeus consecrated one of his converts named 
Zacharias, bishop, and it is said that the latter afterward carried 
the Gospel to the Alvanions, a tribe living on the shores of 
the Caspian Sea at the foot of the Caucasus Mountains. 

Meanwhile strange things were happening at Edessa 
itself. The Christians at that city are said to have carried the 
Gospel into Persia, and the friendship and alhance which ex- 
isted between Artoshes, King of Persia, and Abgar renders 
this very probable. But on Abgar's death, his son, who is 
called by different writers Ananias, Anane, Ananann, and 
Anan, ascended the throne at Osraene, and at once apostatized 
and restored the worship of the heathen gods, especially that 
of Beal, the great tutelary deity of the city. The temples, which 
had been closed by Abgar, were reopened, and a certain 
amount of persecution was begun against the Christians. One 
instance of this in particular is related. 

Ananias ordered Bishop Adde, who had made a tiara for 
Abgar before Thaddeus' arrival in Edessa, to return to his 
old trade and make one for him also. Adde refused, saying, 
"My hands shall make a tiara for no head which does not bow 
down to the dust in honor of Christ." Enraged at this mes- 
sage, Ananias sent the executioner to cut off both the bishop's 
feet. 

This was done as he was seated at worship in the church, 
and resulted in his speedy death. 

Meanwhile Senatrouk was extending his power in Ar- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. IO3 

menia, and was plotting to make himself master of the throne 
of Asraene. Great confusion and disorder followed, but was 
ended by Ananias' death (A. D. 38), after a reign of only four 
years. It is said that his death occurred in the following 
manner: 

Ananias was having the royal palace in Edessa rebuilt 
with great magnificence. One day, while standing on the 
pavement below, surveying the work, a huge marble column 
fell from the upper story upon the King, striking him to the 
earth and crushing his legs so severely that he died of the 
shock. His Christian subjects saw in this event a just judg- 
ment upon him for the murder of their good bishop Adde, 
and remarked upon the noteworthy circumstance that the 
King had been smitten upon precisely the same part of the 
body where Adde had by his orders been struck by the exe- 
cutioner's sword. 

Immediately on the news reaching him that Ananias 
was dead, Sanatrouk marched to take possession of Edessa. 
He seems to have already apostatized"^ from the Christian 
faith, and consequently the Christians at that city at first op- 
posed his entrance. But Sanatrouk reassured them by binding 
himself with an oath to permit them the free exercise of their 
religion. On taking possession of Edessa, Sanatrouk slew all 
Abgar's remaining sons, and banished his daughter and his 
widow, Helene, to the latter's native city, Haran, though he 
left her the title of Queen Mesopotamia. 

We have already the rest of the history of this lady. 
Having thus removed all rivals from his path, Sanatrouk felt 
free to govern according to his own pleasure. He rebuilt in 
the most splendid manner the city of Nisibis, which had been 
destroyed by an earthquake, and set up in the public square 
there a statue of himself with a single drachma in his out- 
stretched hand, implying that he had expended all the rest 
of his treasures in the work of rebuilding the city. 



♦Through fear of the Armenian nobles, who were still heathens, ac- 
cording to Moses of Khorene. 



104 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

But Sanatrouk is famous, or rather infamous, for deeds 
of a different kind also. In direct contradistinction to his 
oath, he began a most cruel persecution of the Christians in 
which he spared neither sex nor age throughout his domin- 
ions. Among others that fell victims to the tyrant's fury was 
Thaddaeus himself. This apostoHc man, hearing of Sanatrouk's 
apostacy, returned from Cappadocia, whither he had gone to 
preach the Gospel. 

On his way to Mesopotamia, it is said, he met five am- 
bassadors sent from Rome to Sanatrouk's court. One of these 
was a noble and well-born man named Chrysos. Hearing the 
Gospel message from Thaddaeus, they accepted it and were 
baptized. Chrysos himself was ordained presbyter. These men, 
in the ardor of their new-found faith, sold all that they had 
and gave to the poor, and then devoted themselves to preach- 
ing Christ crucified to the people of Armenia. They seemed 
to have formed a body of itinerant preachers from among their 
converts, who lived among the mountains and who, from the 
Armenian translation of their original leader's name, were 
called Voskeaukh, the "Golden Ones." These men for some 
years continued their work in Armenia. 

Hearing of their conversions, Sanatrouk summoned 
Thaddaeus to his presence in Shavarshan, where he then hap- 
pened to be. On the arrival of the apostle, he was martyred 
with many other devoted Christians, including Sanatrouk's 
own daughter, Sandaukht, the first of a noble band of Arme- 
nian women who have not feared to lay down their lives for 
their faith (A. D. 48). Tradition relates that miracles of heal- 
ing were wrought at Sandaukht's tomb, and that this led to 
the conversion of many others, not a few of whom wore the 
martyr's crown. 

So in all ages and in all lands has the blood of martyrs 
been the seed of the Church of God. 

Later legends add that Bartholomew also came to Arme- 
nia in A. D. 50, bringing with him a picture of the Virgin 
Mary. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. IO5 

He is said to have preached in Lower Armenia, and to 
have made many converts, including Sanatrouk's sister Tha- 
kauhr (Queen) and the generahssimo of his army. 

Sanatrouk's fury was not appeased by these fresh proofs 
of the power of the Gospel, which he hated with a renegade's 
hatred. He put his sister to death, scourged Bartholomew, 
and then crucified him in the city of Arevbanus, where his 
tomb was long after an object of veneration. Armenian super- 
stition or patriotism claims that the apostle Jude.also labored 
in the country, died and was buried at Urmia. The bones 
of St. Thomas, the apostle of Parthia and India, were brought 
from the latter country (where he had been mar.tyred), and 
interred in Armenia. St. Enstathius, one of our Lord's seventy 
disciples, was martyred in the province of Sinnikh, and buried 
at a place still called Stathew or Sather. Elisha, one of Thad- 
deus' disciples, accompanied by a little band of these devoted 
followers, preached, we are told, in Upper Armenia, and then 
passed on to labor among the Albanians. 

He was instrumental in bringing a very large number of 
these people to a knowledge of the truth, and finally died in 
the plain of Arghann. Sanatrauk the persecutor reigned for 
thirty-four years, and having seen the failure of his attempt to 
crush the infant Christian Church in his dominions, was at last 
accidentally killed by an arrow while hunting (A. D. 65). 

Dr. Philip Schafif says: "It is now impossible to decide 
how much truth there may be in the somewhat mythical stories 
of correspondence between Christ and Abgarus, and the mis- 
sionary activity and martyrdom of Thaddeus, Bartholomew, 
Simon of Cana, and Judas Lebbeus. But it is certain that 
Christianity was introduced very early in Armenia." How 
much or how little of this account of the first preaching of 
the Gospel in Armenia is true must perhaps forever remain 
unknown. What we have narrated above is the story as told 
by Armenian writers for the most part, and believed by them 
to be correct. 

After this time, Christianity spread in Armenia as it did 



lo6 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

in other parts of the Greek Empire; rapidly in the cities, where 
intelligence was quick and new ideas were welcomed; slowly 
in the country districts, where people did not readily change. 
Its first result everywhere was not so much to make people be- 
lieve in it as to make them disbelieve in Paganism; for every 
person who actually came to believe in Christ, there were fifty 
who ceased to beheve in Jupiter, or Bel, or Throth, Vanus, or 
Astarte. 

There would be a flourishing Christian church in a great 
city when most of the people did not have any faith in any 
religion. 

But everybody who had a family came gradually to think 
very well of a religion that gave them the power to teach chil- 
dren righteousness, and enforce it by the command of God, 
and the respectable classes became more and more Christian. 
But the fact that till two or three centuries after Christ 
there was no general attempt on the part of the Pagan govern- 
ments to put down the Christian by persecution, shows that 
not till then did they become so numerous as to frighten the 
government for fear they would before long have a majority; 
persecution means fear. The government let the Christians 
pretty much alone, except for little fits of anger now and then, 
till they were afraid the growth of the sect would overthrow 
themselves or bring on civil war. 

The Christians had become well established in Armenia 
within a century or so after the death of Christ; but it was 
over a century and a half before they seemed an imminent 
menace to the ruling class. • Then a furious persecution began, 
about the same time as that of Diocletian in the Roman Em- 
pire, and indeed, part of the same movement. Diocletian had 
set the persecuting King Tiridates on his throne, and Tiridates 
had passed his life from boyhood almost to old age in the 
Roman service, and had the same ideas as the Pagan Roman 
upper classes. Yet in the providence of God this same Tirida- 
tes made Christianity supreme in Armenia years before Con- 
stantine made it supreme in the Roman Empire, thus making 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I07 

Armenia the first Christian nation. Might be our readers 
know that when Gregory the Illuminator, who was born (A. D. 
257), the proclaimed of the message throughout Armenia, he 
found Christians everywhere, and a church which, though 
sorely persecuted and oppressed, had existed from apostolic 
times. He was, in fact, rather the restorer than the founder 
of the Armenian Church, which became the church of the 
whole nation half a century before the cross was emblazoned 
on the standard of Rome. The Armenians may justly claim 
to be the oldest Christian nation in the world. 

The Father of Gregory, Prince Anak, was of the royal 
family of Arsacidae of Parthia, whose reign was overthrown 
by Artaxerxes, the founder of the Sassanian dynasty of Persia, 
But the Armenian branch of Arsacidae was still in full vigor 
in the person of Chosroes L, the King of Armenia, who had 
tried to restore the seized sceptre of Power to the deprived 
royal family of Arsacidse of Parthia from the revolter, Artax- 
erxes, the Persian. In order that Artaxerxes might secure his 
reign he tried to subdue Armenia too. But, failing to do this 
manfully, he resorted to treachery. Anak, the relative of 
Chosroes L,was induced by Artaxerxes, with promises of large 
reward, to play the part of an assassin. It was so arranged 
that Anak would be chased out of Persia, being a member of 
the Arsacidse dynasty, a dangerous person to the newly-estab- 
lished sovereignty of Persia. "Anak, with his wife, chil- 
dren, brother, and a train of attendants, pretended to take 
refuge in Armenia from the threatened vengeance of his sover- 
eign, who caused his troops to pursue him, as a rebel and de- 
serter, to the very borders of Armenia.''* Anak was received 
by Chosroes I., who credulously listened to his story and sym- 
pathized with him. Anak commiitted the crime of assassina- 
tion of the King, but the King lived long enough to request 
the complete destruction of the family of Anak, and Anak also 
had no time to effect his escape, and being seized upon, he 

•The Seventh Oriental Monarchy, p. 51. 



I08 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

received the due recompense of an assassin. However, his 
son Gregory, who was only on infant, was saved by the faith- 
fulness of his nurse, who took him and escaped into the city 
of Caesarea, Cappadocia, where he was brought up in a Chris- 
tian family with a thorough Christian education. 

On the other hand, Artaxerxes obtained his object with- 
out paying for it, and hearing of the condition of affairs in 
Armenia, he immediately hastened thither with his army and 
took the people by surprise. He doomed the family of Arsa- 
cidse to death, so as not to leave any to rival him for the throne. 
However, Tiridates, the son of Chosroes, escaped into the 
Roman province of Armenia, and then to Rome, where he 
received a military training, and his sister was hid in the strong- 
hold of Ani. 

Tiridates was welcomed by his people, who joined his 
army and drove out of the country their common enemy 
(A. D. 286). 

The Gregory was brought up in Caesarea as a Christian, 
and was well instructed in the Scriptures and in the Greek 
and Syriac languages. When he had grown up, he married 
a maiden named Mariam, daughter of an Armenian who bore 
the name of David. Both were Christians, and must naturally 
have told Gregory something of the deplorable heathenism of 
their native land and of the brave martyrs who had already 
been the first fruits of Armenia to Christ. Of this marriage 
two sons were born, the elder named Vethanes and the 
younger Arestakes. 

Three years after their marriage, it is said, Gregory and 
his wife parted by mutual consent. She entered a nunnery at 
Caesarea, taking her younger son with her. Gregory entrusted 
to guardians the training and education of the elder, and him- 
self went to Rome to enter the service of the youthful Prince 
Tiridates (A. D. 280), hoping by faithful and devoted service 
in some measure to atone to Khasrov's son for the crime which 
Anax had committed, and of which and his own connection 
with the perpetrator Gregory had until very recently been kept 
in complete ignorance. 




?^ mve krf 



//. Co ^gs-Zo/? 



3T. GREGORY, THE ILLUMINATOR. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. IO9 

St. Gregory returned to Armenia and entered King Tiri- 
dates' service, whose ''purpose being to win over to eternal 
life, through the Gospel of Christ, the son of him who had 
been slain by his father, and thus to make amends for his 
father's crime.'' Though he suffered many a torture and tor- 
ment, and thirteen years' imprisonment in a pit, yet this noble 
Christian hero and apostle was determined "to win (the King) 
over to eternal life, through the Gospel of Christ." Finally, 
the King was converted and baptized by St. Gregory, and 
became himself a worthy champion of the truth, and the first 
honored King, who proclaimed throughout his dominions that 
henceforth the religion of Christ is the religion of Armenia. 
The Armenians have been nationally converted to Christianity, 
from the King to the servant; however, there were some, es- 
pecially among the nobility, who with a heathenish tenacity 
held on to Zoroastrianism; but this was for a mercenary pur- 
pose, not from a real appreciation of Zoroastrianism; for St. 
Gregory, by his evangelistic spirit and labors, had laid a 
firm foundation for the religion of Christ in the land of 
Ararat. (A. D. 289.) 

He was, by the request of the King, sent to Csesarea, 
Cappadocia, to be ordained bishop over Armenia (A. D. 302). 

The temples of the idols in every important city or town 
were pulled down and Christian churches in their stead were 
reared. The most splendid of all these churches was Etch- 
miadzin, "the descent of the only begotten,'' which was after- 
wards clustered about with other buildings and became a mon- 
astery and the seat of St. Gregory's successors to his prelatic 
chair to this day. This done, Gregory and Tiridates set about 
exterminating idolatry; they smashed the idols and demol- 
ished the temples, the new converts joyfully assisting them. 
The work of conversion went on rapidly, under the wonder- 
ful preaching of the Saint, and the zeal of the King; all the 
people converted were baptized by immersion. 

In eight years the majority of the Armenian nation, many 
millions in number, had become Christians. That religion was 



no ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

made the State creed of Armenia in 310, while the Council 
of Nice, which did the same work for Rome, was not held till 
(A.D.325). 

Gregory deserves every credit for this magnificent work; 
but I cannot help wishing he had been less zealous in destroy- 
ing the Pagan literature, which is a great loss to the 
world. However, Christianity is worth it, if we could not 
have it at a less price. 

Schools, as well as churches and benevolent institutions, 
were organized in great numbers under Christian auspices 
during the next two or three centuries, and a brilliant band of 
scholars and preachers went out from them, the equals of any 
in their age and perhaps in any age. 

During the long reign of Tiridates the church greatly 
flourished. Indeed, did St. Gregory lay the foundation of the 
religion of Christ upon the immovable rock of the Word of 
God. 

Both the noble founder and the valiant defender of that 
divine faith, committed to their care by King Jesus, entered 
their rest, after having seen the prosperous condition of the 
church, and were succeeded by their sons. However, the 
power of Armenia was unequal to the conflicting forces on 
either side, though the descendants of Tiridates held the scep- 
tre of Armenia nearly a century longer, but in a very enervated 
state. Nevertheless the church of Armenia made a decided 
advance within this period. 

The rivalry between Rome and Persia grew fiercer than 
ever with the introduction of Christianity, for new religious 
hate was added to political ambition; and on the side of Per- 
sia the Armenian difhculties were doubled, for a considerable 
part of the Armenians were still Zoroastrians, and sympathized 
with the Persians against their own government, while many 
of the Persians had become Christian, and opposed their 
Pagan rulers. Thus the Persians felt that they had a civil 
war on their hands as well as foreign wars, and persecuted 
their Christians horribly. 



/ 




y 



DERTAD. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. Ill 

On the other hand, they had the hold of the Pagan part 
of the Armenians in invading or controUing that state; still 
again, the Armenian Christians now favored the Romans 
much more strongly than they had before, because Rome was 
now Christian; while on top of all were the great barons, 
almost independent of the nominal Kings, and who favored 
neither party, but wanted their feudal independence. 

Yet the Roman control of the Kingship for what it was 
worth, lasted without a break for over half a century after 
the victory of Christianity, and over three-quarters of a cen- 
tury from the accession of Tiridates; which was due largely 
to the great ability of the Roman Emperors, Diocletian and 
Constantine, and the excellent administration and military 
organization they left, which saved the eastern provinces from 
Persia for over a quarter of a century after Constantine's death. 
Shahpur II. of Persia, won many victories, but he could not 
hold even the places he captured, and he gained no territory 
till the death of "Julian the Apostate" in his Persian campaign 
of 363. His weak and frightened successor Jovian surren- 
dered a great section of the Eastern Roman territory, and 
still more disgracefully agreed that the Romans should not 
help their ally Arshog or (Arsaces), King of Armenia, against 
Shahpur. Armenia was at once invaded, but she felt her 
national existence at stake, and fought with desperation. 
Though Shahpur had the help of two apostate Armenian 
Princes, Mesurgan and Vahan, and other native traitors, who 
ravaged the country and fought their King because he was 
a Christian, Arshag held out four years, aided by his heroic 
though unprincipled wife Parantzem, and his able chief com- 
mander Vashag. Vagharshabad, Ardashad, Ervandshad, 
and many other cities were taken and destroyed; finally Arshag 
and Vajhdg were captured. Arshag's eyes were put out, and 
he was thrown into a Persian dungeon in Ecbatana; Vashag 
was flayed alive, and his skin stufTed and set near the King. 
Queen Parantzem still refused to surrender, and with 11,000 
soldiers and 6,000 fugitive women held the fortress of Ardis 



112 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

fourteen months, till nearly all of them were dead from hunger 
or disease; then she opened the gates herself. Instead of hon- 
oring her, Shahpur, who was a worthy predecessor of the 
Turks, had her violated on a public platform by his soldiers, 
and then impaled (638). Meantime, her and Arshag's son, Bab 
(Papa), had escaped to Constantinople and asked the help of 
the co-Emperor Valens. 

That Emperor hated to break the treaty, and involve 
Rome in a new Eastern war; but he could not suffer Persia 
to be strengthened by the possession of all Armenia, and the 
Roman statesmen had determined to end the long struggle 
over Armenia by dividing it between Persia and themselves. 
Bab was secretly helped by the Romans ; he kept up a guerilla 
warfare in the mountains, and a large part of the Armenian 
people were prepared to welcome him back to his rightful 
throne. The Romans tried to keep within the letter of their 
treaty by not letting him assume the title of King. The Per- 
sians considered his support by Greek troops a breach of the 
treaty, none the less, and Valeus alternately aided and dis- 
avowed him. The matter was not mended by the worthless 
character of Bab himself, who murdered his best friends on 
the least suspicion, and had the incredible baseness to hold a 
secret correspondence with Shahpur, the worse than murderer 
of his parents. Finally the Romans, convinced that he must 
be under their watch if they were to have any security of him, 
tolled him down to Bilicia, and prevented him from returning 
by guards of soldiers. 

He made his escape, and professed his allegiance to the 
Romans as before; but Valens resolved to be rid of him, and 
had him murdered by Count Trojan, the Roman commander 
in the East. 

Meantime a powerful Roman army under Count Trojan, 
and the chief Persian host, had actually camped opposite each 
other on the borders of Armenia (A. D. 371); but neither side 
wanted a general war just then, — Rome must have her hands 
free for the Goths, and Persia hers for the Mongols. 



y 



AND THE ARMENIANS. II3 

Finally, in 379 (A. D.), Shahpur died, and there was an 
instant and entire change in Persian policy toward Rome, and 
even toward Christianity for a while. His brother and suc- 
cessor, Ardosher, was an old man, and reigned but four years ; 
his successor, Shahpur III., at once sent embassies to Rome, 
and made a treaty of peace (384). Finally, on the succession 
of Bahrom IV. (Kirman Shah), in 390, that monarch arranged 
a treaty of partition with Theodosine, the Roman Emperor, 
by which Armenia ceased to exist. The western portion be- 
came a Roman province, the then reigning sovereign, Arshog 
IV., was made governor to keep the people contented. 

The eastern and much the larger section, was annexed to 
Persia, under the name of Persamenia; and to please the peo- 
ple, an Arsacid, Chasraes IV., was made governor, and the 
dynasty was continued in its rule over the Armenians till after 
the great Perso-Roman war of 421-2, and the persecution of 
Christians by Persia, which was the pretext of it. 

The persecution and the war led to a movement for Ar- 
menian independence; after it was over, Bahram V. at Persia 
(Gor, the Wild Ass, "the mighty hunter''), put a mere vassal, 
Ardoshes I\'., into the governorship; but the great Arme- 
nian barons would not give up the struggle, and this last of 
the Arshagaanian dynasty was removed in 428 and Persian 
governors substituted. 

Thus ended the rule of the line of Arshag. It was a 
mighty race, and swarms with brilliant names, but in Persia 
it was justly displaced by one of better public policy; and in 
Armenia the position of the country was fatal to it. 



CHAPTER VL 

PROMINENT MEN OF THE PERIOD. 

Nierses the Great. — This was the great founder of Arme- 
nian scholarship. Nierses, the representative of Gregory's 
house, would most probably have been chosen to occupy the 
position, which might almost be said to be hereditary in the 
family of the Illuminator. He studied in the Greek schools 
of Csesarea during boyhood, had he then been in Armenia. 
But he was resident at Constantinople, where he became fa- 
mous for learning. He was married to a Greek princess of a 
distinguished house. And it may well be believed that the 
King was in no hurry to urge the return and appointment to 
the Archiepiscopal dignity of a man likely to be both strong 
and good, and therefore bound to oppose him in his evil con- 
duct. Phoren occupied the patriarchal throne for only about 
two years, dying in A. D., 364. On his death it was resolved to 
elect Nierses a Catholicos, though he was still absent from the 
country. This was done, and the nobles sent an urgent mes- 
sage to him, begging him to return to his fatherland. Nierses 
acceded to their desire, and was consecrated at Csesarea on his 
way to Armenia. 

When he reached his native land, the nobles and people re- 
ceived him with great gladness (A. D., 365). He immediately 
set about the reformation of abuses which had crept into the 
church during recent times, endeavoring very successfully to 
restore the strict and healthy discipline which had been main- 
tained under his great progenitor, and to abolish the laxity of 
morals and general disorganization which had of late pre- 
vailed. He also introduced many ecclesiastical improvements 
which he had seen in Constantinople. By the King's per- 




NERSES THE GREAT. 







MUSHEGH. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. II5 

mission he called a great council or synod of all the bishops 
and many leading nobles, which met at Ashtishat in A. D. 365, 
the main object of which was the correction of abuses in the 
church. The chief of these which were condemned at the 
council were: 

1. Marriages contracted between near relatives, among 
the nobles more especially, with the object of retaining prop- 
erty in the family. 

2. The practice of indulging in excessive mourning for 
the dead, and in conduct unworthy of Christians. 

3. The habit of expelling from the towns and villages 
all lepers and persons suffering from infectious diseases. Such 
unfortunates, besides the lame, the blind and hopeless incura- 
bles, were often left unaided to die of starvation. 

He founded over two thousand schools and benevolent 
institutions as well as great numbers of churches. To put a stop 
to the latter practice, Nierses was successful in getting hos- 
pitals and suitable asylums built in every canton for the recep- 
tion of these unfortunates. He also erected orphanages and 
places where widows and the poor might receive help, and 
succeeded in having taxes levied for their endowment. In 
certain places where they were most needed, he also built 
resthouses for travellers. He was a powerful and persuasive 
preacher, and a considerable writer, part of the church history 
being his. From these schools went forth a very brilliant band 
of scholars, preachers and orators, the equals of any in the 
world. 

It was during his pontificate that the afifairs of Arshag and 
Bab (or Pap) took place, and he was intimately connected 
with them till his death at the hands of the latter. Previous to 
the desertion of Armenia by the Romans in 363, they had 
quarrelled with Arshag, and sent an army to punish him; but 
on Nierses' intercession with A'alens it was recalled and the 
saint obtained high favor with the emperor. 

Arshag's conduct, however, grew too bad for endurance; 
he had his father and a relative named Kucuel (of Guel) killed, 



Il6 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

and married Kuenel's wife, Parantzem (who afterwards met 
such a horrible fate), though his own wife, Olympias, was still 
alive, but bribed a priest named Mrjinnik to poison the queen 
Olympias, which he did by mingling poison in the cup at 
Holy Communion. Pharantzem, or Parantzem, thereupon be- 
came Cjueen. Nierses, the Catholicos, finding admonition of 
no avail, quitted Vagharshabad and went into a convent. But 
Arshag, getting into fresh difihculties with the emperor and 
his own rebellious vassals, besought the saint to assist him 
once more, and once more Nierses complied. He first pacified 
the turbulent nobility; then interceded with the Roman com- 
mander to such effect that the general withdrew his army and 
went to Constantinople to justify himself to the emperor, tak- 
ing a letter to him from Arshag, and hostages for the latter's 
loyalty, and also inducing Nierses to accom.pany him. But 
Valens was enraged at the withdrawal, would neither read the 
letter nor see the saint, and ordered the hostages killed and 
Nierses banished. The former sentence was revoked on the 
general's intercession, but Nierses was shipped for his place 
of exile. On the way a storm wrecked the vessel on a desert 
island, but he and the crew were saved. It was winter, and 
they could find no food but the roots of trees, but in a short 
time the sea miraculously cast abundance of fish on shore, and 
for eight months they never suffered for sustenance. At 
the end of that time the saint was set free. 

After the restoration of Bab to the land, though not the 
acknowledged throne of his father, Nierses, the Catholicos, 
convened an assembly of Armenian princes and ecclesiastical 
heads, with the King, and show them all to mutual concord 
and good behavior, to unite the land against the Persians, but 
Bab, like so many Eastern potentates and indeed his father, 
cared for nothing but to indulge his own passions, and would 
have sold his country to Shahpur if he could have gotten his 
price. Nierses earnestly remonstrated with him, but in vain. 
Bab merely hated him for it, and finally had secretly poisoned 
him (A. D., 383), in the village of Khakh in the province of 




ST. SAHAG CATHOLICOS. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 



117 



Eghueghiatz. Nierses, the Catholicos, had been pontiff eight 
years, but they were crowded with labors of immense variety 
and usefuhiess. He left one son (Isaac), who eventually be- 
came pontiff also. 



MESROP. SAHAK (OR ISAAC) AND THE ARMENIAN BIBLE. 

The great work of the conversion of Armenia to the 
Christian faith, began by Gregory the Illuminator, had been 
left unfinished in at least one very important respect. Gregory 
had seen the desirability of rendering the church of Armenia 
as soon as possible independent of foreign missionaries, and 
had accordingly established schools for the education of the 
people, and for the training of indigenous clergy. But, as 
there was no Armenian literature worthy of the name at that 
time extant, and as no suitable alphabet capable of properly 
representing the sounds of the language had as yet been in- 
vented, he had not attempted to translate into the language 
of the people the scriptures and the service books used in 
divine worship. Greek and Syriac were carefully taught in 
the numerous schools established throughout the country by 
Gregory, and it became the practice to read the scriptures 
either in Greek or in Syriac — whichever language the offfciat- 
ing minister knew best — and to explain to the people in the 
vernacular the meaning of what they heard. 

This was evidently only a temporary measure, and it 
worked well for a time. The schools turned out a considerable 
number of preachers and teachers able to expound to the 
people the meaning of the Greek and Syriac texts, and so the 
pressing need of an Armenian version was not so much felt. 
But during the troubles which followed on Tiridates' death 
the schools gradually lost both teachers and pupils. The new 
generation of clergy could indeed read the sacred texts, but 
they understood them less and less. 



Il8 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

During the persecution under Meronzhan the study of 
Greek was, as we have aheady seen, entirely prohibited, and 
all Greek books which were found in the country were ruth- 
lessly burnt. No serious attempt seems to have been made 
to interfere with the use of Syriac in worship ; but the congre- 
gations accustomed to worship in Greek found their clergy in 
most instances quite unable to interpret to them the Syriac 
scriptures. The result was as ancient Armenian historians in- 
forms us, that the people left their churches uncomforted by 
the words of Life, which they had heard with their outward 
ears, but which they had been utterly unable to understand. 
Day by day this state of things grew worse and w^orse. Ig- 
norance of the doctrines of Christianity spread rapidly, and 
there was great danger that the people would in consequence 
either lapse into their old heathen practices or at least be un- 
able to withstand the efforts for their conversion to Magicianism 
made by the Persian court. This was the state of affairs which 
led to the invention of the Armenian alphabet still (with slight 
modifications) in use, and to the ultimate translation of the 
Holy Scriptures into that language. 

This great work was accomplished by the Catholicos 
Sahak or Isaac in some measure, but more particularly by 
his famous associate and fellow-laborer, Mesrop Mashtats. 

Mesrop was born in the village of Hatsik, in the canton 
of Taran. His father, Vartan, taught him a little Greek, and 
when still young he became a pupil of Nierses the Great, under 
whom he soon mastered Greek, Syriac and Persian. When 
he grew up he became for a time one of the court scribes, and 
found his knowledge useful in that capacity, for at that time 
the letters and edicts of Arm^enian kings were generally pub- 
lished in all three languages. He devoted himself to all secular 
studies, especially Greek, and became much respected by 
small and great, as his friend and biographer, Koriun, informs 
us. Wearying, however, of secular work, Mesrop soon left 
the court, and retiring to a hermitage with a few disciples, de- 
voted himself to the practice of austerities and the preaching 




MESROP, AS YOUNG PRIEST, 



AND THE ARMENIANS. IlQ 

of the Gospel. He went especially to preach in those parts 
of the country, such as the canton of Gaghtha, where heathen 
practices still prevailed among the people, having never en- 
tirely ceased. With the favor and assistance of Sabith or 
Sabath, the chief of the district, Mesrop and his disciples were 
enabled to work a great reformation there, and the gods are 
said to have fled in a bodily form from them and to have re- 
tired into Media. ' 

Being well acquainted with Syriac, Mesrop himself did 
not find it a very difficult task to translate orally to the people 
the passages of Scripture read to them in church, but the work 
was far more difficult for his disciples to perform. During the 
time that he spent in itinerating and preaching the Gospel in 
different parts of the country, Mesrop felt more and more how 
absolutely necessary it was for the people to have the Scrip- 
tures translated into and published in their native tongue. 
But before this could be done, it was necessary to invent an 
alphabet suited to the genius of the language. Owing to the 
number of sounds which Armenian possesses, neither the 
Greek nor the Syriac, nor even the pahlavi alphabet was at 
all suitable to write Armenian in. To the task of devising 
a really suitable alphabet and of having an Armenian version 
of Scriptures made, Mesrop now determined to devote all his 
energies. 

Accordingly, leaving his hermitage, Mesrop came to 
Sahak, the Catholicos, and told him his plans (A. D., 397). 
This wise and good man showed the greatest possible interest 
in them, and gave Mesrop every encouragement to continue 
the efiforts he had already begun to make with the object of 
devising an Armenian alphabet. Mesrop renewed his efiforts, 
with fervent prayer to God for guidance. 

About this time King Vramshapouh, who, at the request 
of the King of Persia, had visited Mesopotamia in order to 
arrange a dispute which had arisen in that country between 
himself and the Byzantine court met a Syrian presbyter 
named Abel, who informed him that a learned and pious 



126 Illustrated armeniA 

Syrian bishop, Daniel by name, had by him an alphabet which 
had formerly been used for writing Armenian. The King 
.took no notice of this statement at the time, but did not forget 
it. By Mesrop's advice, Sahak got Vramshapouh to call a 
great council of the nobility and of the bishops and principal 
clergy of his realm, in order to decide what steps should be 
taken with the object of obtaining an Armenian literature. 
The council met at Vagharshapat in A. D., 402. The King 
himself was present and mentioned what he had heard about 
an Armenian alphabet. The council took the matter up most 
warmly, and entreated the King to send messengers to Meso- 
potamia at once to visit Abel and learn all he could tell them 
about the matter. This he did, and messengers obtained from 
Bishop Daniel a copy of the alphabet in question (which is said 
to have resembled the Greek) and information regarding the 
pronunciation of the letters composing it. Meanwhile the 
whole council, according to Lazarus phorpitsi, addressed a 
very earnest request to the Catholicos that he would complete 
the work begun by his great ancestor, Gregory, by taking im- 
mediate steps to have the Bible translated into Armenian from 
the Greek. Sahak most gladly undertook to have this great 
work carried out, for he saw that it was the desire of the 
whole nation, who deeply felt their need, and the almost utter 
uselessness of having the Scriptures read and divine service 
held in a language they could not understand. 

A fitter person that Sahak to undertake such a work 
could hardly have been found. Setting aside his piety and 
zeal, Sahak's learning rendered him capable of the task. Born 
at Constantinople and educated there and at Csesarea, Sahak 
knew Greek as perfectly as he knew his mother tongue. He 
had become Catholicos at the age of thirty-five, and the 
greater part of his life up to that time had been spent abroad. 
He had a very fair knowledge of Syriac, and was also well 
acquainted with Persian, at that time apparently the court 
language in Armenia. His energy was unbounded, and he 
was untiring in every good work. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 121 

He commanded the confidence of the people and was 
honored at court. Besides all this, he was an eloquent 
preacher and an able teacher, and had the rare talent of instill- 
ing into the minds of his disciples the zeal and earnestness that 
animated his own soul. 

When Alesrop received the alphabet sent by Bishop 
Daniel, Sahak the Catholicos and he having carefully studied 
it, tried for two whole years to teach it in the schools, and use 
it for the development of an Armenian literature. But they 
found that it contained fourteen letters less than were actually 
needed to express the sounds of their native tongue. Mesrop 
had devoted a considerable amount of study to the conclusion 
that it was utter waste of time to continue to use this defective 
alphabet. Before, however, abandoning the attempt, he, with 
his assistants, John of Ekeghikh and Joseph Paghnatsi visited 
Bishop Daniel in Alesopotamia, and tried with his assistance 
to modify this alphabet so as to adapt it to the Armenian lan- 
guage. But the attempt failed. 

While praying over the matter the right solution suddenly 
occurred to Mesrop. Koriun informs us that, "Not in sleep as 
a dream, nor in a vision while awake, but in the workshop of 
his heart he saw, manifested to the eyes of his spirit, the fingers 
of a right hand writing on a rock. The stone had a border line 
as of snow. It not only was manifested to him, but the exact 
figures of all the characters were collected together in his mind 
as a miracle. 

Rising from prayer, he founded our written characters. 
At Samosata he and his assistants procured the aid of a Greek 
•scribe named Rui^nes, a disciple of Epiphanes, a hermit in 
;Samos, who seems to have assisted him in improving and ar- 
ranging the characters as far as possible in accordance with 
the order of the letters of the Greek alphabet. In fact, there 
can be no reasonable doubt that the x\rmenian characters are 
formed principally from the Greek, though some were ap- 
parently borrowed from the Avestic alphabet, and new letters 
< — modifications of somewhat similar Greek ones — were intro- 



122 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

duced when needed to express sounds peculiar to Armenian. 
The alphabet thus formed was made symmetrical and harmo- 
nious, and it has eA-^er since been used in Armenia. The date 
which Armenian historians assign for this invention is A. D., 
406. 

Immediately after this discovery, Mesrop with his two 
pupils, John and Joseph, set to work to translate the Bible from 
the Greek. He began with the Book of Proverbs, and then 
went on to translate the New Testament. How much of this 
work he accomplished at Samosata we do not know. . . . 
Koriun seems to imply that Mesrop translated the whole 
Bible, while Moses of Khorene attributes the work to him and 
the Catholicos Sahak and their disciples working together. 
It seems plain that the whole task cannot have been accom- 
plished by Mesrop at that time for he returned to Armenia 
very soon, and we find the new invention warmly welcomed 
by King Vramshabad in 408, when he encouraged Mesrop 
and Sahak in their efforts to establish schools throughout the 
country, in which the new letters were taught. 

The schools established at Vramshapouh was the most 
celebrated of these, and became in fact a sort of Alma Mater 
to all the rest. 

The pupils there trained were dispersed throughout the 
country to found schools and train the most promising youths 
in the other cantons of Armenia. 

They were also associated with Sahak and Mesrop in their 
translated work. Then began the Golden Age of Armenian 
literature. 

The fifth century is known as the Age of Translators. 
These were divided into two groups. Among the ''elder trans- 
lators" are included Eznik Koghbatsi, who wrote a refutation 
of heresies. Koriun, the biographer of Mesrop, Joseph Pagh- 
natsi and John Ekeghetsatsi, whom we have already men- 
tioned, Joseph Vayots Tzorits and Leantius Vanandetsi. The 
''younger translators" were in most instances the pupils of the 
elder, and included Moses of Khorene, (the Herodotus of Ar- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 1 23 

menian history), Eghishe (Elisha), who wrote a history of the 
great struggle which took place in the fifth century between 
the Persians and the Armenians under the \ ardans, John 
Mando Kanni, Ghazar (Lazar) Phorpetsi the historian and 
others. 

When Mesrop returned to Armenia he found that the 
Catholicos had already begun to translate the Bible from the 
Syriac. It had been his intention to make the Greek Septua- 
gint the basis of his translation of the Old Testament, and to 
translate the New Testament from the original Greek. But 
a most careful search throughout the whole of Persian Ar- 
menia failed to discover a single manuscript of Holy Scriptures 
in Greek. Meranzhan's search for Greek books had been so 
thorough that he had burned every single copy in the country. 

Nor were the Catholicos' messengers permitted to extend 
their search to that part of the country which, after Khasrove 
III.'s death, had again, in the reign of Theodosius II., been in- 
corporated with the Byzantine empire. Even Mesrop's at- 
tempt to get permission to teach his alphabet to the people 
of that district were for the same considerable time success- 
fully opposed by the Byzantine governors. Meranzhan's 
efforts had not been directed to the destruction of Syriac cop- 
ies of the Bible; in fact, Syriac learning was encouraged by 
the Persians, while they sternly endeavored to repress the 
study of Greek. Hence Sahak had no difficulty in procuring 
copies of the Peshitto version of the Bible, and accordingly 
began to translate that into Armenian. 

He first translated those portions of the Scriptures which 
were appointed to be read in the churches, and his version of 
these was published in A. D., 411. 

The Catholicos now sent some of his own and Mesrop's 
most promising pupils to Greece and Syria to search for and 
translate all the most important books they could find, espe- 
cially the works of the leading fathers of the church. Eznik 
and Joseph were sent to Edessa for this purpose. 

When they had made many versions there from the Syriac, 



124 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

they went to Constantinople in their eagerness to prosecuft? 
the study of Greek. There obtaining possession of the Greek 
originals of some of the works they already had in Syriac, they 
carefully revised the versions of these books which they had 
made at Edessa. They were joined at Constantinople by 
Koriun and Leontes, who had been impelled to go thither by 
their zeal for learning. 

Shortly afterwards two others of their fellow students ar- 
rived, John and Arbzan, sent by Sahak to obtain authorized 
copies of the Greek Bible for him, and these latter were also 
directed to be present at the council of Ephesus in A. D. 431. 
There they gave an account of the progress of the Gospel in 
Armenia and of Mesrop's great invention. 

On their return they took back with them copies of the 
Greek Bible from the imperial library at Constantinople, which 
must have been in accordance with those made by Eusebius at 
Constantine the Great's command. They found Mesrop and 
Sahak at Ashtishat, still busily engaged in translational work. 

On the receipt of the Greek manuscripts, which his mes- 
sengers had brought, Sahak was greatly puzzled by the nu- 
merous slight variations of reading to be found in the dif- 
ferent Syriac and Greek copies of the Bible now in his hands. 
It was partly for this reason, as well as with the object of secur- 
ing the assistance of scholars thoroughly versed in Greek 
learning, that he sent Moses of Khorene and others to study 
philosophy, history and rhetoric at Alexandria. Others were 
sent to Constantinople and other great educational centres. 

On their return, after a period of about seven years, these 
men devoted their energies to the enlightenment of their na- 
tive land. 

They do not seem, however, to have been of much as- 
sistance in the translation of the Bible, which was finished and 
published in A. D. 456. 

This was the second Armenian version, made this time by 
Sahak and Mesrop, from the Greek. The receipt of the Greek- 
manuscripts brought from Byzantine had made Sahak resolve 



And the Armenians. 125 

to revise his version in accordance with the Greek. We might 
therefore suppose that he would have fohowed the Greek in all 
places where it differs from Peshitto Syriac text. But, how- 
ever, the fact is to be accounted for — this is by no means the 
case. Certain passages show that the Syriac text was preferred 
to the Greek. 

It will be sufficient to mention one illustration of this. In 
the last paragraph of St. Mathew's Gospel — which is read in 
the Baptismal service of the Armenian church — the passage 
"As (My) Father hath sent me, even so send I you;" is intro- 
duced at the end of the eighteenth verse, as in the Peshitto. It 
is repeated, however, in the Armenian version (as in the Greek 
text and the Peshitto) in its proper place, John xx,, 21, Mak- 
ing allowances for such facts as these, which show a want cf 
critical acumen — hardlv to be wondered at in that a^e — on 
the part of the Armenian translators, the version made by 
Sahak, Mesrop and their coadjutors is a noble one, well deserv- 
ing of the title of "queen of versions" which has been bestowed 
upon it. Its great defect is that the Old Testament was trans- 
lated from the Septuagint and not direct from the original 
Hebrew. From the language of Moses of Khorene and other 
contemporary writers, it is clear that the Armenian Bible did 
not originally contain the Apocrypha. The expression they 
use is that the translators rendered into Armenian the twenty- 
two evident (acknowledged) books of the Old Testament. This, 
of course, means the books of the Hebrew canon, which were 
in ancient times reckoned as numbering twenty-two, the num- 
ber of the letters in the Hebrew alphabet. The Old Testament 
Apocrypha is, however, now read in the Armenian church. 

As far as we can learn from the somewhat varving ac- 
counts of contemporary Armenian historians, the whole of 
the Old Testament, except the proverbs of Soloman, was trans- 
lated by Sahak, while Mesrop translated the proverbs and the 
New Testament. But the revision was shared in by both 
these great men as well as some of the most able of their 
disciples. It is needless to say what a boon to Armenia 



126 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

such a work was. The Armenian people were now able to un- 
derstand the word of God read in their churches and circulated 
among them in every part of the country as quickly as scribes 
could multiply copies in sufhcient numbers. 

The Bible was everywhere eagerly studied, and one im- 
mediate result was a great deepening of the religious life of 
the people. The knowledge of the Gospel message and of 
the commandments of God spread everywhere, and Mesrop 
and Sahak were most diligent in the effort to enlighten the 
people in every canton of the country. We may form some 
idea of what then took place in Armenia by remembering the 
accounts which historians give us of the reception Luther's 
German Bible met with when it issued from the press. The 
Armenian Bible soon became the one great national book, and 
early Armenian historians have in most cases their whole 
style colored by their intimate acuaintance with Holy Scrip- 
ture. 

It has often been remarked, and with perfect truth, that 
it was to the invention of the Armenian alphabet, and the pub- 
lication of Mesrop and Sahak's version of the Bible in that lan- 
guage that the nation owed not only its retention of Christi- 
anity during the terrible persecution that so quickly followed 
the fall of the Arsacidse dynasty, but even its very existence. 
Had not the people been united by an intelligent knowledge, 
and a hearty acceptance of one faith and by the possession of 
a national literature, they could never have weathered the 
storms that in the fifth and following centuries beat with such 
fury upon Armenia. The breathing space afforded by Vram- 
shabad's wise and peaceful reign, falling between these 
periods of trouble and discord, was giving by an all-wise and 
merciful providence to prevent the vessel of both church and 
nationality from dire and terrible shipwreck. 

Besides the direct spiritual results of the translation of the 
Bible into the language of the people, (which were so great 
that Lazarus Pharpetsi says that in describing them he is war- 
ranted in using Isaiah's words, and stating that the whole land 




J4ESROP, AS HIGH PRIEST- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I27 

of Armenia was thereby filled with the knowledge of the Lord 
as the waters cover the sea), it had also others less direct, but 
very important. One of these was that it reduced the lan- 
guage to a literary standard, and gave it order, fixity and per- 
manence. From very early times many different dialects have 
prevailed in Armenia, but during the last few centuries of 
our narrative the dialect of the province of Ararat had come 
to the fore as the language of the court and of the central and 
leading district in the kingdom. 

This was the dialect which was naturally adopted by the 
translators, and it became the literary language of the country. 
Even to the present time though no longer spoken, it is used 
in literature to a great extent and until very recently was the 
only written form of Armenian. The literary dialects of mod- 
ern language, those of Ararat and Constantinople, are now ex- 
tensively used, though the old literary dialect is still dignified 
with the title of Grapar, or written. 

The literary impulse given to the leading minds of the 
nation by Mesraph's invention of the alphabet led to a great 
amount of other translational work, besides the composition of 
such books as Moses of Khorene's History of • Armenia, 
Eznik's Refutation of Heresies, Elisha's History of the War of 
the Vartans, and other similar works of great value and in- 
terest. Not only were the old chronicles of the kingdom 
transcribed into the new alphabet, and thus preserved for some 
considerable time, but the works of all the Greek and Syrian 
Fathers that could possibly be obtained were translated into 
Armenian. A little later the works of Plato and Aristotle, of 
Homer and other classical writers were added to the list. We 
hardly know as yet at all fully what valuable writings have 
thus been preserved to us in Armenian libraries, but Tatian's 
Diatessaran and Eusebius chronicle are examples of the treas- 
ure still to be discovered by diligent search in this field of 
learning. 

Armenian historians relate that to Mesrap is due the inven- 
tion of the ecclesiastical alphabet in use in Georgia. The date 
they fix for this is A. D. 410, 



128 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 



BAROUYR OR BRAYERIOS. 



We must not judge tlie ability and reputation of men 
in their own ages solely by the familiarity of their names to 
us: those that have come down to us are a mere handful, and 
not by any means always the greatest of their time. 

Much depends on chance — the preservation of certain 
works, and the loss of others, or certain men happening to do 
something dramatic. Great orators are especially likely to 
be forgotten; they leave no written works of their own, and 
not being in political life the common histories do not mention 
them. The name of Barouyr is wholly unknown to this age; 
but we have the testimony of a contemporary writer, Eunapius 
of Sardis — not a countryman of his, and therefore free from all 
suspicion of patriotic brag, and most unlikely to make out an 
Armenian greater than he was — that he was the most wonder- 
ful orator of his time, famous all over the Roman world, and 
greatly admired even by the emperors. He was one of those 
men to whom all languages seem alike to come by nature, and 
his oratory was as easy and as perfect in one as in the other; 
in Latin or Greek as in his national Armenian. The only 
comparison I can give in modern times is Louis Kossuth. 

That Barouyr has not the fame of Cicero or Demosthenes, 
Kossuth or Gladstone, is probably because under the circum- 
stances of the time he could not engage in political life. Mili- 
tary service or high birth were about the only avenues. 

I will quote in substance what Eunapius says of this bril- 
liant orator, whom_ he probably knew all about, as our boys 
know about Gladstone. 

Barouyr, he was born in 347, and he was certainly alive 
in the time of the Emperor Julian, who came to the throne in 
361. 

Barouyr lived to be ninety, and was beautiful even in old 
age, having vigor of youth in his looks. He was eight feet 
high. When a boy he left Armenia and went to Antioch, 
the first of the Christians, and entered the school of oratory un- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I29 

der the celebrated Alblanos, where he shortly became the fore- 
most pupil. Thence he went to the Athens and studied under 
Julian, the greatest of the teachers of oratory there, — support- 
ing himself by working meantimes, as he was very poor; in no 
long time he was recognized as the leading orator of Athens, 
and taught the art to the Athenians. The other teachers were 
so angry that they bribed the governor to banish him; but on 
the governor's removal some time after, he was permitted to 
return. The new governor instituted an oratorical competi- 
tion: Whoever could deliver the best extempore oration on a 
subject to be given out on the spot, should receive great 
honors. Barouyr took part on condition that the auditors 
should take careful notes and should not cheer; but they were 
so fascinated that they broke both conditions, listening in 
rapture and applauding repeatedly. The governor offered 
him his chair and honored him as the greatest orator in 
Athens. Later the Emperor Constans was so struck with 
his wisdom and oratorical power that he called him first to 
Gaul and then to Rome, where he delivered his greatest ora- 
tions and the Romans erected a bronze monument in his 
honor, inscribed ''Regina Rerum Momoe Regi Eliquentioc." 
(Rome Queen of Affairs to the King of Eloquence). From 
Rome he returned to Athens, and taught there many years 
with great repute, up to the time of the Emperor Julian, who 
honored him and spoke as follows of him: ''Barouyr was a 
flowing river of oratory, and in power and persuasiveness of 
speech was like Pericles." And I now add that with all this 
he was a thorough Christian man — not a priest, but a great 
Christian layman and teacher but not among his nation. He 
was mostly in foreign countries. 



VARTAN, DEFENDER OF THE FAITH. 

The Sassanian dynasty in Persia was a source, more or 
less, of perpetual misery and blood-shed in Armenia. As it 



130 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

has been said before, the Persians had two reasons for their 
cruel attitude towards Armenia. These causes were the ex- 
istence of the Aroacide reign and Christianity in Armenia, 
while Zoroastrianism was revived in Persia under the Sassan- 
ian kings. 

Christianity was a permanent cause or occasion for which 
Armenia has suffered and is still suffering indescribable mis- 
eries and innumerable cruelties. The Persians would imagine 
that as long as the Armenians are Christians they are in al- 
liance with the Greeks, while, unfortunately and often, the 
Greeks were no longer in sympathy with them than the Per- 
sians. 

Armenia about the middle of the fifth century had entirely 
lost her independence and was divided between the Greeks and 
the Persians, the eastern and the large part of the country be- 
ing under the latter power. 

Yesgerd II., the King of Persia, (A. D. 450), decreed thus: 
"All people and tongues throughout my domains must aban- 
don their heresies, worship the sun, bring to him their offer- 
ings, and call him God; they shall feed the holy fire, and fulfill 
all the ordinances of Magi." Accordingly, Mihrnersh, the 
grand vizier of the Persian court, wrote a long letter to the 
Armenians, polemic in character, persuasive in style, and 
menacing in tone, the synod of the Armenian bishops he con- 
vened, who unanimously agreed to defend their religion at 
any cost, and at the same time it was decided upon answering 
the letter of the grand vizier in which they both refuted the 
charges made against Christianity, undauntedly defended their 
faith, showing the absurdity of Zoroastrianism, and concluded 
the epistle with these words: "From this belief no one can 
move us neither angels nor men, neither fire nor sword, nor 
water, nor any other horrid tortures, however they be called. 
All our goods and our possessions are before thee, dispose 
of them as thou wilt, and if thou only leavest us to our belief, 
we will here below choose no other lord in thy place, and in 
heaven have no other God but Jesus Christ, for there is no 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I3I 

other God save only Him. But shouldst thou require some- 
thing beyond this great testimony, behold our resolution: our 
bodies are in thy hands — do with them according to thy plea- 
sure; tortures are thine, and patience ours; thou hast the 
sword, we the neck; we are nothing better than our fore- 
fathers who, for the sake of their faith, resigned their goods, 
possessions and life. Do thou, therefore, inquire of us nothing 
further concerning these things, for our belief originates not 
with men, we are not taught like children, but we are indissolu- 
ble, bound to God from whom nothing can detach us, neither 
now or hereafter, nor forever, nor for ever and ever." 

As soon as this letter arrived at the Royal Court of Persia, 
King Yasgerd was enraged and summed the Armenia 
princes to immediately repair to His Majesty's presence. 
There in the presence of the King they manifested a great 
resolution in their faith, for which they were ignominiously 
treated and confined in prison. Having been threatened while 
in their confinement, they devised a scheme; they thought it 
was better, apparently, to comply with the demands of the King, 
but inwardly to remain true to their convictions and religion. 
God, who is able to bring good out of evil, indeed did so in 
this case. When it was made known to the King that the Ar- 
menian princes were willing tO' accept his terms, at once they 
were liberated and returned with distinctions to their homes, 
and a large army with over seven hundred magi were exultant- 
ly marching on to Armenia to raze to the ground every Christ- 
ian church and school and disciple the people into the myster- 
ious absurdities of Zoroastrianism. 

No sooner had the news of the apostacy of the princes 
reached Armenia than the bishops, priests and the laity con- 
demned the weakness and the folly of the princes. 

When the princes returned to Armenia they found no one 
ready to listen to any explanation, but everywhere the people 
were ready to defend their religion at the cost of their lives. A 
large multitude made up of clergy and laity, among whom 
were many women, gathered for immediate action, for the 



132 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

enemy was marching on. Some of the princes could not endure 
the contempt of the people, nor the unrelenting remorse of 
consciences, so they were ready to expiate their folly at 
any cost. 

Vartan Mamigonian is the most esteemed and beloved 
name in Armenian history. This noble man was a grand- 
son of Sahak Catholicos. When Vartan Mamigonian was a 
little boy, he was so full of grace that the Pontiff Sahak 
adopted him as his son, and through this companionship of the 
aged ecclesiastic and the religions boy, the latter developed 
into a great spiritual light. In 421 he went to Constantinople 
with noble St. Mesrop, and was much loved and esteemed by 
the Emperor (Theodosius II.), and the court, then to Persia, 
where the King honored him and gave him the title of prince. 

Vartan Mamigonian was a faithful servant of God and His 
Saviour. It was said of him that he was an honest, modest, 
wise, brave, true, pure, childlike and Christlike Christian com- 
mander, a great soldier of the Cross. He was a lamb in nature, 
but when he came to defend his religion he was a lion. 

Prince Vartan, the Mamigonian, was unanimously ap- 
pointed the commander-in-chief of the Armenians, against 
the Persians, and the multitude was formed into three divisions, 
intrusted to three princes: Vartan, Nershebuh and Vasag. 
The latter, however, proved treacherous and perfidious, and 
with his almost entire division sided with the Persians, and be- 
gan to devastate the provinces, where he was stationed to en- 
counter the foe. His treachery decided the fate of the Ar- 
menians. But brave Vartan and the rest were not dismayed, 
though they knew that they alone could not conquer an im- 
mense army of the enemy with a small force of their own. Yet 
they were not fighting for victory, but for their convictions and 
the religion of Christ. 

Finally the forces were arrayed for battle on the banks 
of the Dughmood river, on the plains of Avaraye, near the 
present city of Van. 

Prince Varton had 66,000 men, the Persians several times 




VARTAN MAMIGONIAN. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I33 

as many. Before beginning war Vartan Mamigonian 
knelt down and prayed to God for help, and to Christ for 
his own salvation, then he made an address to his soldiers, in 
substance as follows: 

"Soldiers, as Christians, we are averse to fighting, but to 
defend the Christian religion and our own freedom we have to 
fight. Surely our lives are not as valuable as Christ's, and if 
He was willing to die on the cross for us we ought to be will- 
ing to die in battle for Him. I have been," said he, "in many 
battles, and you also with me ; we have sometimes bravely van- 
quished the foe; sometimes they vanquished us, but on all 
these occasions we thought only of worldly distinction, and 
vve fought merely at the command of a mortal king. Behold, 
we have all many wounds and scars upon our persons, and 
great must have been our bravery to have won these great 
marks of honor. But useless and empty I deem these exploits 
whereby we have received these honorable marks, for they pass 
away. If, however, you have done such valiant deeds in obedi- 
ence to a mortal ruler, how much more will you do then for 
our immortal King, who is Lord of life and death, and who 
judges every one according to his works. 

"Now, therefore, I entreat you, my brave companions, and 
more so as you — albeit in bravery, worth, and inherited hon- 
ors greater than I — have of your own free will and out of your 
love elected me your leader and chief, I entreat that my words 
may be favorably received by the high and the low. Fear not 
the numbers of the heathens; withdraw not your necks from 
the terrific sword of a mortal man in order that the Lord may 
give the victory into our hands, that we may annihilate their 
power and lift on high the standard of truth." 

On the morning of the day of the battle the little army of 
the Holy League received the Holy Eucharist, and marched on 
with these words: "May our death be like to the death of the 
just, and may the shedding of our blood resemble the blood- 
shedding of the prophet. May God look in mercy on our vol- 
untary self-ofifering, and may He not deliver the church into 



134 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

the hands of the heathens." Then, with his troops, he crossed 
the river fell on the enemy's centre, and scattered the huge 
army in rout, killing 3,544 men, besides nine great princes, and 
losing 1,036 of his men; but alas! one of these was himself, 
dying from a mortal wound not long after. Nevertheless he 
had won the victory he was striving for. 

Yazygerd, the King of Persia, saw it was impossible to 
conquer the Armenians in a war for religion, and granted en- 
tire liberty to the Christians to believe and preach as they 
pleased 



PRINCE VAHAN MAMIGONIAN. 

Christianity and Zoroastrianism had many a battle in the 
land of Ararat, until the latter, in total despair, was willing to 
submit to the former, on some amicable terms to be suggested 
by a brave son of Armenia, a worthy member of the house of 
Mamigoians. This valiant champion of truth was Vahan 
Mamigonian, whose uncle, Prince Vartan, led the Holy League 
in battle, and with the heroism and courage of the martyrs 
defended their religion and rights, and had sealed their testi- 
mony to the truth of Christianity by their blood in the previous 
battle. 

The Persians, ofter their conquest of Armenia, destroyed 
many of the churches and schools. Many of the bishops and 
priests were captured. Some were martyred on the spot, others 
were carried to Persia and- there executed. The patriarch, 
Joseph, in whose character and life shine forth piety, courage 
and devotion, was one of those carried to Persia. The Christ- 
ians were persecuted with indescribable tortures and cruelties 
and Zoroastrianism inculcated among the Armenians, who in 
return most cordially hated both the religion of Zoroaster and 
its defenders, and were alert for an opportunity to drive out the 
usurpers as unwelcomed teachers of an unphilosophized reli- 




PRINCE VAHAN MAMIGONIAN, 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 135 

gion sprung out of Zoroaster's imagination. The northern 
provinces of Armenia rebelled against the Persians. The latter, 
therefore, attempted to subdue them. The Armenians availed 
themselves of this ample occasion, armed themselves and urged 
Vahan Mamigonian to take the lead of the army to clear out 
of the country the troops of the enemy left there. The Persian 
forces had received such terrible disastrous defeats in various 
contests from the Armenians, under the command of Prince 
Vahan Mamigonian, that when a new governor, Nikhor, was 
appointed by Balos, the King of Persia (A. D. 485), he instead 
of attacking Vahan, who held almost the whole of the country, 
wished to come to an arrangement agreeable to the Armen- 
ians. Prince Vahan therefore proposed the following terms: 

1. The existing fire-altars should be destroyed and no 
others should be erected in Armenia. 

2. The Armenians should be allowed the free and full 
exercise of Christian religion, and no Armenians should be in 
future tempted or bribed to declare themselves disciples of 
Zoroaster. 

3. If converts were, nevertheless, made from Christianity 
to Zoroastrianism, places (of honor) should not be given to 
them. 

4. The Persian King should in person, and not by de- 
puty, administer the affairs of Armenia. 

These terms proposed by Prince Vahan, were favorably 
accepted by Nikhor, and an edict of toleration was issued and 
proclaimed that everyone should be at liberty to adhere to his 
own religion, and that no one should be driven to apostatize. 
Afterwards Vahan himself was appointed governor of Ar- 
menia by the King, and thus the church enjoyed a period of 
tranquility from the persecutions. 

ARMENIAN LITERATURE. 

The Armenian schools and universities and their outpour 
of great scholars and writers have already been spoken of, 



136 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

but of course Armenian youths, eager for the best of the 
world's learning, did not confine themselves to their own 
country; they studied in Constantinople, Athens, Antioch, 
Alexandria, and wherever great teachers were located, — all 
zealous Christians, and the books they have left behind were 
Christian literature, not works of mere enjoyment. A very 
rich and valuable literature it is, too, in my judgment the most 
so of any single body that exists; though much of it has per- 
ished in the recent destruction of everything Christian the 
Turks can reach. 

The fifth century is called the Golden Age of Armenian 
literature. First in point of time as well as importance comes 
the Armenian Bible. The furious opposition of the church in 
the Middle Ages to letting the people have the Bible to read 
in their own tongues seems perfectly ridiculous, when we re- 
member that in the early Christian Church every people had 
it in their own language, and it was thought to be the greatest 
work for a heathen people that could be done, to translate 
the Bible for them. 

It was not thought needful then to keep the Word of 
God in a strange tongue, so that the people could neither 
read it for themselves nor understand it when it was read to 
them. 

There were probably some books of popular tales and 
songs in Armenia before the fifth century, for we are told that 
there was an Armenian alphabet to write them in as early as 
the second, but if so they have all perished, and the alphabet 
was doubtless a poor and meagre one. Armenian scholars 
and writers read Greek or Latin books, and occassionally He- 
brew or Syriac ones, and wrote in Greek or Latin themxselves; 
if it was necessary to write Armenian, as in letters, they made 
the Greek, Syriac of Persian characters, which of course were 
insufficient to give the Armenian sounds. They would have 
got along with this, however, if it had not been for the eager- 
ness of Christian enthusiasm which made them wish to give 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 137 

the Bible to Armenia. It was to spread the Word of God, not 
to write books, that they were anxious. 

St. Mesrop set to work and invented a very perfect alpha- 
bet of thirty-six letters, to which two have been added since. 
According to one of his disciples, having vainly sought help 
from the learned, he prayed to God, and received the new al- 
phabet in a vision. 

This was about 405. He and Sahag, the Pontiff, at once 
began to translate the New Testament and the Book of 
Proverbs from a poor Greek version, the best they had, with 
the assistance of two pupils, John and Joseph. This was fin- 
ished in 406. Many years later they undertook the translation 
of the Old Testament; but as the Persians had destroyed all the 
Greek manuscripts, it was necessary to use a Syriac version. 
The same two assistants aided them; but being sent to the 
Council of Ephesus in 431, they brought back copies of the 
Greek Septuagint, and the old translation was at once 
dropped, and a new one put under way. But all found their 
knowledge of Greek too imperfect to rely on, and the pupils 
were sent to Alexandria and Athens to complete their educa- 
tion. On their return they seem to have brought a new Alex- 
andrian version, and corrections were made from that, and the 
work completed, most likely about 435. 

The Bible completed, they turned to other labors. The 
saints, Sahag and Mesrop, are said to have written six hun- 
dred books themselves, all in Christian theology and instruc- 
tion; and the pupils from the schools St. Nierses and them- 
selves had founded — the chief of their own were at Naravank, 
Ayri, and Vochkhoraz — wrote great numbers besides. The 
first original work of Sahag was one on pastoral theology, 
setting forth that the Church of Christ is the Bride of Christ, 
and the ministers must therefore be holy, pure, and obedient. 
He wrote many epistles to Kings and Emperors, all of whom 
reverenced and were greatly influenced by him. 

He wrote a large part of the Armenian Church history, 



138 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

composed many hymns, and translated many commentaries 
and theological works from the Greek. 

Fortunately during this period the government of Arme- 
nia was very good, with the exception of one period of two 
years or so; even after its partition, for close on forty years 
it had practically self-government in internal affairs, and for 
another decade the Christians enjoyed full rights of worship. 
Bahram IV. at Persia (389-399), who helped divide it, was 
a monarch who loved peace above all things, both with foreign 
countries and his own people, his successor, Yazdegerd I. (399- 
420), went even further, employed the Catholicos or Pontifif 
on embassies to Constantinople, as mediator with his own 
brother, and made his son, Shahpur, governor of Persian 
Armenia, continuing the Arsacidas dynasty. He was murdered 
by his nobles, instigated by the Zoroastrian priests, for being 
too tolerant to the Christians, and his successor, Bahram V., 
who got the throne by favor of the rebellious elements, tried 
to please them by persecuting the Christians. This involved 
him in a war with Rome, as I have said, and after a couple 
of years he made peace and gave toleration again. The turn- 
ing of Persian Armenia into a satrapy in 428, but no fresh 
persecution was undertaken till that of Yasgerd 11. in 439, 
ending in Vartan's revolt just detailed. Shahpur of Armenia 
was a Prince of great wisdom, generosity, and public spirit; 
he patronized men of learning, founded schools, made large 
grants from the treasury for scholarship, and sent scholars 
to all the great seats of learning to teach and acquire the lan- 
guages, literature, and history of other nations, after which 
they wrote and translated hundreds of volumes. Among them 
were Tavit, Khosrohl, Mampre, and Zazer; a great historian, 
Eghishe, author of the life of Prince Vartan, and a great 
philosopher, Yeznic. These are only a few out of scores 
worthy of mention. 

Dr. Philip Schafif says : "In spite of the unfavorable state 
of political and social affairs in Armenia, during this epoch, 
more than six hundred Greek and Syriac works were trans- 




MOSES KHORENTZI. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 139 

lated within the forty years after the translation of the Bible, 
and as in many cases the original works have perished, while 
the translations have been preserved, the great importance of 
this whole literary activity is apparent. Among works which 
in this way have come down to us are several books by Philo- 
Alexandrinus, on providence, and reason, commentaries, etc.; 
the Chronicle of Eusebius, nearly complete; the Epistles of 
Ignatius, translated from a Syrian version; fifteen homilies 
by Severianus; the exegetical writings of Ephriam, 
Syros, previously completely unknown, and the historical 
books of the Old Testament, the Synoptical Gospels, the Para- 
bles of Jesus, and the fourteen Pauline Epistles; the Hexahe- 
meran of Basil the Great; the Catechesis of Cyril of Jerusalem; 
several homilies by Chrysostom, etc. The period, however, 
was not characterized by translations only. Several of the 
disciples of Mesrop and Sahak left original works. Esnik 
wrote four books against heretics, printed at Venice in 
1826, and translated into French by Le Vailliant de Florival, 
Paris, 1853. A biography of Mesrop by Koriun, homilies by 
Mambres, and various writings by the philosopher David, 
have been published; and the works of Moses Chorenensis, 
published in Venice in 1842, and again in 1864, have acquired 
a wide celebrity; his history of Armenia has been translated 
into French, Italian and Russian. 

Sixth century: The leading authors in this century are 
Abraham Mamigonian, who wrote on the Council of Ephesus; 
and Bedross Sonnian, who wrote on the life of Christ. There 
are, however, many others of merit. 

Seventh century: By far the greatest name in this cen- 
tury, and indeed the best known and most important name 
in Armenian literature altogether, is the writer who calls 
himself Moses Khorentzi, well known to all historical scholars 
as Moses of Chorene, author of the History of Armenia. For 
more than a thousand years, up to this century, indeed, this 
was practically the only source of Armenian history to the 
world; the other writers were inaccessible, and it is still very 



140 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

valuable, though not in just the way it was once thought to 
be. It preserves a vast amount of Armenian tradition, stories 
and ballads, and real history, which have perished except for 
this work, but he seems not to have had the Greek and Latin 
histories to draw from, and makes a great many mistakes. 
He gives a life of himself, and says he is writing in the fifth 
century, and knew Saints Sohag and Mesrop when he was 
young, but he really lived in the seventh, and wrote history 
about the year 640. But still he is a great writer, and one of 
Armenian's literary lights, and we do not need to claim for 
him anything more than he deserves. 

Besides Moses, the chief authors were Gomidos, Yeze, 
Malassagha, Krikoradour, Hovhounes, Vertanes and Anania, 
They wrote chiefly religious books, but Anania Shiragatzi 
is the author of a valuable work on astronomy. 

In eighth century, the leading authors were Hovhom 
Imossdosser, Sdepannoss Sonnotzi, and Lehamt Yeretz. 
They wrote hymns, books on oratory, etc. In ninth century, 
Zakaria Shaboah, Toama, and Kaur Ken, etc. In tenth cen- 
tury, the chief authors were Anania, Khosrov and Krikor 
Noregatzi. The latter wrote a prayer book in ninety-five chap- 
ters, which one of the missionaries of the American Board 
thinks the best in the world. He says that only Henry 
Beecher was able to ofifer such prayer as Krikor Naregatzi. 
In the eleventh century, the leading writers were Hovhannes, 
Krikor, and Aristaguss. In this century some of the best 
commentaries were written on the Bible. And the twelfth 
century the chief authors: Nerses Shnorhali, or Nerses 
Graceful, is the foremost of Armenian poets, and a thoroughly 
converted and consecrated man of God. His hymns were in- 
tensely spiritual, and the Armenians still chant them in their 
church. They are worthy to be translated into EngHsh, by 
Miss Alice Stone Blackwell, in Boston, Mass., as follows: 

"O, wayspring sun of righteousness, shine forth with light for me; 

Treasure of mercy, let my soul thy hidden riches see. 

Thou before whom the thoughts of men lie open in thy sight, 




■JJLl— — l--t- fc - . ' ■ «Ar't >. ~ .^, -. . i i. i. M- ■ - — — 



NERSES SHNORHALI. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I4I 

Unto my soul, now dark and dim, grant thoughts that shine with light. 

O, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Almighty One in Three, 

Care-taker of all creatures, have pity upon me! 

Awake, O Lord, awake to help, with grace and power divine; 

Awaken those who slumber now, Like Heaven's host to shine; 

O Lord and Saviour, life-giver, unto the dead give life, 

And raise up those that have grown weak and stumbled in the strife; 

O skillful Pilot; Lamp of Light, that burneth bright and clear; 

Strength and assurance grant to me, now hid away in fear. 

O Thou that makest old things new. renew me and adorn; 

Rejoice me with salvation. Lord, for which I only mourn. 

Giver of Good, unto my sins be Thy forgiveness given; 

Lead Thy disciples. Heavenly King, unto the flocks of Heaven. 

Defeat the evil husbandman that soweth tares and weeds; 

Wither and kill in me the fruits of all his evil seeds; 

O Lord, grant water to mj^ eyes, that they may shed warm tears, 

To cleanse and wash away the sin that in my soul appears; 

On me, now hid in shadow deep, shine forth, O glory bright; 

Sweet juice, quench thou my soul's keen thirst; show me the path of 

light. 
Jesus, whose name is love, with love crush thou my stony heart; 
Bedew my spirit with thy blood, and bid my griefs depart; 
O Thou that even in fancy art so sweet. Lord Jesus Christ, 
Grant that with Thy realty my soul may be sufficed; 
When Thou shalt come again to earth, and all Thy glory see, 
Upon that dread and awful day, O Christ, remember me. 
Thou that redeemest men from sin, O Saviour, I implore. 
Redeem him who now praiseth Thee, to praise Thee evermore. 

This hymns the perfectly spirittial, and Armenians with 
the pleasure and gladly still singing them in their church cere- 
monies in the every morning. (The Arch.bishop Nerses the 
Graceful; born 1102, died 11 72.) In this 12th century, Nerses 
Lampranatzi, the greatest scholar ever born in Armenia, was a 
distinguished commentator on the Old Testament, and wrote 
many other books. Another is Yeremia. 

In the thirteenth century, the leading authors: Krikor 
Sguevratzi, Kevork Sgtievratzi, ]\[ukhitar Anetzi, \'anagan 
\^artabed,A^artan\^artabed. etc. They wrote histories, commen- 
taries, etc. As the Armenian dynasties ended in the fourteenth 
century at Cilicia by the last King Leo AT., and after that pe- 



142 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

riod have no important literature among the Armenian 
churches. 

The Armenians, besides the language of country, 
wherever they may be found, speak their own tongue, which 
is a distinct language of itself, and belongs to the Indo-Ger- 
manic family of languages. There are, however, two Arme- 
nian languages, the ancient and modern. The former was 
the language of the pre-Christian era; and after the conversion 
of the nation to Christianity, and the translation of the Bible 
into it, it became the standard language of the literature. "In 
its syntactical structure the old Armenian resembles most 
nearly the classical Greek." Its close relation to the Sanskrit, 
ancient Persian, Greek, and Latin might be pointed out by 
numerous words commonly found in these and Armenian 
languages. 

The modern Armenian language has been elevated to 
the dignity of a respectable language almost in this century 
by numerous original and translated works and periodicals 
published in various countries, especially by the translation 
of the Bible. The relation of this language to the ancient 
Armenian might be compared with that of the modern Greek 
to the ancient Greek language. 

The Armenian literature of the pre-Christian era has not 
survived, excepting a few fragmentary songs, which lingered 
even until the time of Moses of Khorene, in whose history 
of Armenia they are preser\^ed, and the inscriptions of the 
Kings of Van — if we admit with some — are ''the oldest speci- 
mens of the Asiatic branch of the Indo-Germanic family." 

Christianity brought with it into Armenia a great love 
for learning; Armenian youths flocked into the schools at 
Athens, Alexandria, and Constantinople. Most of them en- 
gaged themselves in translating many valuable works from 
the Greek and other languages into the Armenian. A recent 
writer speaks of these translators in this manner: Some of 
them obtained celebrity in their chosen pursuits. To this 
tendency we owe the preservation, in Amenian, of many works 
that have perished in their original languages." 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 143 

The original works consist of theological and expository 
discourses, commentaries, histories, sacred songs, devotional 
works, etc. "The existing literature of the Armenians dates 
from the fourth century, and is essentially and exclusively 
Christian.'' This "literature is rich and continuous, uninter- 
rupted through all the Middle Ages. It has furnished the 
philosophers, historians, theologians, and poets." The pecu- 
liar value of the Armenian literature is not realized as it should 
be, by European and American scholars; the language is 
well worth learning for what it can give the student. Not 
alone is the original work that comes from the first Christian 
nation specially valuable for its bearing on primitive Chris- 
tianity, but the Armenian scholars translated great numbers 
of works from other languages, and these translations are 
preserved in Armenian monasteries when the originals have 
been irretrievably lost in the wars, and burnings, and devasta- 
tions of other countries. Six hundred volumes of this old 
literature are known to exist now, two hundred in Europe, 
and four hundred in different places in Armenia. 

"They (the Armenians) are a people of fine physical de- 
velopment, often of stature and powerful frame, indus- 
trious and peaceable, yet more jealous of their rights and 
liberties than any other Oriental race. They passionately 
cherish the memory of their fathers, and preserve the 
use of their national language, which belongs to the 
Indo-European family, and possess a literature of con- 
siderable importance.'"^ 

"These Armenians are a superb race of men; their cos- 
tume, which is plain and noble, displays to advantage their 
athletic forms; their physiognomy is intelligent; they have 
florid complexions, black and blue eyes, and beards of light- 
ish color. They are the Swiss of the East. Industrious, peace- 
able and regular in their habits, they resemble them also in 
calculation and love of gain. The women are lovely; their 
features are pure and delicate, and their serene expression 

* " Bible Lands," page 3G7. By Van Lennep. 



144 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

recalls the beauty of the women of the British Islands or of 
the peasants of Switzerland."* 

In education the Armenians surpass all other nations 
of Western Asia, and many might even fairly be compared 
with the people of some Roman Catholic countries. But 
a great majority, safely may it be said, yet sit in the darkness 
of ignorance and superstition. This is a sad fact. But it is 
impossible to be otherwise, as long as the sceptre of power 
is in the hand of Islamism. "Islamism it is which palsies 
every effort to reform throughout the empire.'' *'The convic- 
tion is inevitable, that until the power of Islamism is broken, 
the true reformation of this land is an impossibility." Islam- 
ism is a moral and photophobia ; it dreads the Hght of civiliza- 
tion and Christianity. 

As the religion, of the Armenians, Christianity, though not 
in its simplicity and purity now as it was in the beginning, is 
infinitely superior to the religion of Mohammed, so the char- 
acter of the Armenians, it might be said, is in the same pro- 
portion, superior to that of the Mohammedans, notwithstand- 
ing all the evil influences of the latter upon the former. The 
Armenians, moreover, lack the volatility of the Greek and the 
laxity of the Jews. 

Before I finish this chapter I wish to say a few more 
words about the beginning of Christianity in Armenia. 

Christianity was begun in Armenia, perhaps, as early 
as the days of the apostles, and had been mightily re- 
vived by Gregory the Illuminator. Armenia or the Armenians 
were now a Christian country, or people, with an independent 
and indigenous church and a Bible in their own language. 
She possessed a body of devout and learned clergy, full of 
energy and zeal. Her students went everywhere to seek 
knowledge and learning, and returned home to divide among 
her numerous congregations the mental and spiritual treasures 
they had won. Her people studied the Word of God, and 
grew in grace and in the knowledge of God. Christianity 
had routed and annihilated Paganism, and had struck her 

* Lambertine," Voyage in Orient," volume ii., page 190. 




INTERIOR OF ARMENIAN CHURCH. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I45 

roots deep down into the heart and conscience of the nation. 
Like a noble tree on the mountain-top, buffeted by the storm 
and yet unshaken from its post, the Armenian Church even 
in near future, was to experience the tempests of persecution 
and oppression, and yet by those very blasts be driven to strike 
root more deeply still, as it were, into the very Rock of Ages, 
and to stand firm during" all future time as a proof of her 
Master's protecting care in the very face of the gates of hell. 



THE ARMENIAN CHURCH. 

The Armenian Church was and still is a national, 
independent and separate body as much as the Greek or the 
Roman Catholic Church, and older than either of them; there- 
fore the prosperity of the nation was also the prosperity of the 
church. The nation had but little rest after her embrace 
of Christianity. Christian Armenia during the first three 
centuries of her existence made such a defence of her faith 
against Zoroastrianism that the latter was completely par- 
alyzed and no longer able to lift up the sword against the 
followers of Christ. 

But with the rise of Mohammedanism, a more formidable, 
cruel, unjust, and inhuman enemy arose. 

The Saracens or the Arabs, who were both the soldiers 
and missionaries of Mohammedanism, literally panted after 
the blood of the Christians as the hart panteth after the water 
brooks. 

Even these, after sucking all the blood that they could im- 
bibe, fell off like swollen leeches and themselves were swal- 
lowed up by the Seljukian, Tartar, and Mongolian Turks, who 
surpassed even the Arabs in cruelty and deserved to be called 
*'the unspeakable Turk." The Greeks, with all their subtlety, 
volatility, perfidy, intrigues, and intolerable bigotry, could 
do no more than to cause some of the corruptions of their 
church to creep into the Armenian Church. But this is not 
all; for while the Armenians were driven into the mountain- 



146 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

ous district of Cilicia, the land of the brave Apostle Paul, by 
the Mongolian and Tartar invaders, who spread desolation, 
destruction, and death wherever their feet touched the soil, 
there came with the appearance of the crusaders in the East a 
number of zealous missionaries of the Romish Church, who, 
instead of preaching and converting millions of Mohamme- 
dans to Christianity, tried to bring the Armenian Church into 
a subordination and jurisdiction of the Pope of Rome. 

Though the missionaries of the Romish Church un- 
doubtedly knew that their church excelled the Church of 
Armenia in corruption, in superstition, and nonscriptural 
claims and dogmas, yet they took advantage of the oppressed 
condition of the people and persistently disturbed their church. 
The overthrow of the political existence of the Armenians, 
according to some, is due to their intercourse with the West- 
ern nations, as we have seen. After this overthrow the Church 
of Armenia became both the custodian of the nation's ex- 
istence and the defender of her independence. 

The Armenians, owing to the frequent incursions, de- 
vastations, barbarous massacres, and being led captives in 
great numbers by the Saracens, afterwards by the Mongolian 
and Tartar hordes, were compelled to immigrate into safer dis- 
tricts and countries, especially after the overthrow of the inde- 
pendent dynasty in Cilicia. 

When Constantinople was taken by the Turks, Sultan 
Mohammed II. appointed Bishop Hovaghim, of Brusa, the 
Patriarch over the Armenians then in Constantinople and in 
vicinity. This naturally also drew a good number of the Ar- 
menians from other parts, while nearly two centuries before 
this time Jerusalem was also made the seat of a Patriarch. 

The seat of the Archbishop at Sis in Cilicia, Akhtamar, 
in the Island of Lake Van, and Etchmiadzin by bishops fear- 
ing the title of Catholicos. Some of the occupants of these 
seats were very much like some of the popes of Rome at the 
expense of honor, distinction, and well-being of their people 
they sought honor and distinction, but some others nobly 




ARMENIAN CATHOLICOS IN CHURCH UNIFORM. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 147 

suffered privation, prosecution, exile, and martyrdom with 
their flock. 

The Papal missionaries, under the order of the Unitors 
who had insidiously sown the seeds of dissension in the Ar- 
menian Church, took advantage of every calamity that befell 
the people, and afterwards being also augmented by the 
Jesuits and their sagacity, until they converted this dissension 
into a volcanic eruption about the beginning of the last cen- 
tury. Consequently thousands of the Armenians avowed their 
allegiance in spiritual matters to the Pope of Rome. 

The Mohammedan conquerors always dealt with their 
Christian subjects with the utmost contempt, unmodified in- 
justice, unabated cruelty, and relentless persecution. Un- 
doubtedly did many of the people delude themselves with the 
idea that by uniting with the Romish Church they would enjoy 
protection through the influence of Romish France, then more 
influential in the East, for it is quite improbable that they 
could believe that the Romish Church was any better in sim- 
plicity and purity than the old Armenian Church. 

The superiority of the educational institutions of the Jesu- 
its to that of the Armenians was also an inducement then for 
some of the youths to flock into their schools. The monastery, 
founded by Makhitar, of Sebastia (now Sivas), about the 
beginning of the last century in St. Lazarus' Island, in Italy, 
and the literary pursuits of the Mekhetarits, who edited many 
old Armenian writings and translated from the Latin writers, 
always tinted with the Papal views, rendered great service 
to the Romish Church. Many a sad event is connected with 
this Papal movement which our space will not allow us to nar- 
rate; but suffice it to say that this movement resulted in the 
separation of about one hundred thousand Armenians from the 
Armenian Church (this separation took place in 1830), and it 
has now a standstill condition. 

The following is from a French writer, Mr. A. Ubicini, 
who speaks of these sad events in detail: "Fortunately for 
the Catholics they found a powerful protector in De Feriol, 



148 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

the French ambassador, who obtained an order from the Porte, 
in 1783 for the deposition and banishment of the (Armenian) 
patriarch, Avedik. Exiled to Chios, he was clandestinely car- 
ried off during the passage, and conducted, some say, to Mes- 
sina, others to Marseilles, and thence to the Island of St. Mar- 
guerite, where he died of martyrdom. There were strong 
grounds for suspecting the Jesuits established in Chios and 
at Galata of having contrived this plot in concert with the 
French ambassador."* 

Often heard are such expressions as ''Armenian Catholic 
Church," and many people think it simply a "branch" of the 
Great Eastern or Greek Church. 

It would be just as sensible to consider the Greek a 
branch of the Armenian Church. Each of them represents 
a form of Church organization and body of doctrine which 
best satisfied the representatives of certain races or nations. 
The advantage of the Greek was that that race — or at least 
its speech and thought— happened to be dominant in the 
Roman Empire at the time Christianity won the battle, 
and so had the official backing of the Empire, and was able 
to outgrow and crush down the others. It was not any truer, 
any more the real church of Christ, than the Syrian or 
African, or Armenian. It was not the earliest, for the very 
first Christian Churches sprang from the Jews. It was not 
even the earliest great national church body, for the Arme- 
nian Church has that distinction. 

The foundation of the Armenian Church by St. Gregory 
and Tiridates. That church has its own head — the Catholicos 
or Pontiff, who is no more a subordinate of either the Pope 
or the Greek Patriarch than the Grand Llama is or Dr. Park- 
hurst — and its own self-subsistent being. 

As to the differences between them, in the first place the 
Armenian is a purely Trinitarian. There is no room for Uni- 
tarianism within its lines. 

* " Letters on Turkey," volume ii., pages 250-7. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 149 

When Gregory the Illuminator was preaching his ser- 
mons on the hills and plains of Armenia, he laid the founda- 
tion of the national church in the Trinity. His first sermon 
was on the Trinity, and his last sermon was on the Trinity, — 
in all his sermons he asserted the Trinity — the Father, the Son, 
and Holy Ghost; Jesus Christ being a perfect man and perfect 
God; in His person we see God in man and man in God; a 
perfect Emmanuel; God with us. We see in him that man 
can be united with God. The only possible way of salvation 
is through Jesus Christ. He is the Saviour of the world and 
none else, and whosoever believeth in Him shall be saved. 
This is the belief and the only belief of the Armenian Church. 
Its members repeat the Apostolic Creed and the Lord's Prayer 
every day in their church. 

Secondly, the Armenian has never been a persecuting 
church, and every other one of the great Christian churches 
has been. The Armenian Church, as befits the first and most 
Christlike of all the bodies that professed Christ before Lu- 
ther's time, has always been the broadest, the most inclusive, 
the most untechnical of churches. It fellowships with all 
other churches. It demands only that men shall profess and 
believe in its own church body. Its canons are conversion 
and regeneration, purity, holiness, being born again from the 
Holy Spirit and becoming Christlike. It holds that Chris- 
tianity is brotherhood through Jesus Christ, and gives no 
warrant for oppression or persecution, curses or anathemas. 
But other churches hold that no one can be saved outside of 
their own churches (the Greek and Catholic churches). The 
Armenian Church has been repeatedly persecuted by both, 
and has always protested against the principle of it, as well 
as against the pretensions of the Popes to universal sway. 

The next: That the Armenian contention is for free- 
dom of will, freedom of conscience, freedom of worship, and 
political freedom, is the cause of their being hated both by the 
Mohammedans and by their so-called Christian neighbors. 

The next one: As to theological questions the Arme- 



150 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

nian Church fathers did not pay much attention to them. Not 
because they were not able, because they were too able, and 
very far-sighted. They knew well that such questions can 
never be solved, no matter how many centuries pass away, 
no matter how great scholars the world produces; therefore 
they would not enter into the debate. And so every Arme- 
nian scholar has his own theology. 

The Armenian Church has not a theology or any special 
official doctrine; and this is a very fortunate thing for the Ar- 
menians. They care more for righteousness of life than for 
particular beliefs about the way of getting it. 

When there was a great controversy in the Council of 
Chalcedon, 451 A. D., about the nature of Christ, Armenians 
did not care about it. Some of the great theologians said 
Christ had two natures; some said he had only one nature; 
the Armenian bishops would not give any opinion. They be- 
lieve in Christ as their Saviour, that is the essential thing ; but 
whether He has two natures or one nature is not essential. 
Then came the controversy about the Holy Spirit. Whence 
does the Holy Spirit proceed? Some say from the Father and 
the Son, some simply from the Father. When the question 
came before the Armenian bishops they replied that they did 
not care whence he proceeded. They knew that they needed 
the Holy Spirit for guidance in spiritual life, for regeneration ; 
they knew that the Holy Spirit was one of the persons in the 
Trinity; and that was enough for them. 

The Armenian Church claims to be apostolic in its origin. 
Christianity being introduced into Armenia by the Apostles, 
and having survived the persecutions of heathenism during 
the first three centuries, finally subdued the entire nation 
about the end of the third century. 

St. Gregory the Illuminator was sent to Csesarea, Cappa- 
docia, to be ordained Bishop of Armenia, A.D. 302. This cus- 
tom of the ordination of the bishops of Armenia at Csesarea 
lasted until the patriarchate of Nerses the Great (A. D. 363), 
one of the noblest and holiest bishops of the Armenian 
Church. 




in ^ 



V .V V ,v N 



^ ^ 4^ ^ ^ 



KJ' , Vr s 




\i 



T -i 



kj^'i ' U ?S ^ t ,-A.'^'^ / ^ if / ^.^ "^ '^ ^ h.-^^<Lm 






-<* "*^ 



INTERIOR OF ARMENIAN CHURCH. 




^-M'w, ' "v ^-' >"""'^<->* 



THE SCRIPTURES, SACRED VESSELS AND ORNAMENTS USED IN 
ARMENIAN CHURCHES. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I5I 

During the period of his patriarchate the clergy and the 
laity of the nation unanimously agreed to have their bishops 
ordained in Armenia by the Armenian bishops. It is evident, 
therefore, from the fact that there is no higher rank or order 
than that of a bishop or presbyter, which names are inter- 
changeably used in the New Testament, as Vartabed (teacher), 
M. Muradian, of Jerusalem, correctly states in his recent "His- 
tory of the ApostoHc Church of Armenia."* Here it may be 
also interesting to add as a fact of history that St. Gregory 
and his immediate successors, his sons and grandsons, and 
for a length of several centuries, the bishops were married 
and the heads of families. Celibacy was not required of them, 
neither separation, but it was optional with them to choose 
either, or none. 

"The election of the bishops, like that of all the Arme- 
nian clergy, takes place by universal suffrage;" the ordination, 
at Etchmiadzin, Akhtamar, or at Sis in Cilicia by the presid- 
ing bishop or Catholicos and his associates. 

The priests or elders (yeretz) are chosen by the people 
from among themselves, who are expected to have a toler- 
able knowledge of the Bible and the liturgy of the church — 
some in former days knew very little of theirs — and are or- 
dained by the bishops. The priests live with their families 
among the people and are occupied with their daily duties 
in the church services morning and evening; they perform 
also baptism for the infants, and marrying and burying the 
young and old. 

"The Armenian clergy receive no stipends, and exact no 
contributions like those of the Greek Church: their reve- 
nues depend entirely on the voluntary contributions of the 
faithful. It is therefore rare to meet with a wealthy priest, 
though some few are in easy circumstances. "f 

With respect to morals also, though it is difficult to pro- 
nounce absolutely on the subject, the Armenian clergy appear 

* See page 35 in the original. 

t " Letters on Turkey," Vol. ii., pp. 285-286. 



152 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

to be very superior to the Greek. The deacons are elected 
and ordained like the priest, and have no income whatever; 
they serve the church and assist the priests in the daily ser- 
vices of the church. 

There is another class of clergy of the Armenian Church. 
Those forming this class are called Vartabeds, or doctors 
in theology. It is very probable that the very necessity of the 
case created this order. In the former days, after the conver- 
sion of the Armenian nation to Christianity, most of the lit- 
erary men were of the clergy, and the monasteries became 
the seat of learning, and those who loved a literary life would 
retire to those places and pursue such a course. Asceticism 
of the East also must have played a good part in it. 

They at first, most likely, voluntarily preferred celibacy, 
in order to devote their whole time to learning and teaching, 
and were ordained evangelists, to visit the churches and to 
preach the Gospel to the people, who were so often perse- 
cuted and oppressed by their enemies. But what was with 
them optional has become now a condition, for that order. 
Though ''the Vartabeds form the most enlightened and 
learned portion of the Armenian clergy," and from them are 
the bishops elected and ordained, but unfortunately "they are 
restricted to celibacy." 

The Armenian Church differs from that of Rome on the 
following points : 

(I.) It denies the supremacy of the bishop of Rome. 

(II.) It rejects the authority of the Council of Chalcedon 
as ecumenic. 

(III.) It rejects the introduction of filioque into the creed, 
but admits that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father. 

(IV.) It rejects the Romish doctrine of purgatory. 

(V.) It rejects also indulgence. 

(VI.) It does not withhold the Bible from the people, but 
encourages them to read it. 

The orthodoxy of the Armenian Church would not have 
been questioned by some of the Western writers had they 




"' ' '""i ii iiii . .a.II.a ^'-.k£:y^osm 



A RETIRED ARMENIAN BISHOP. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 153 

drawn their information from the native authors, instead of 
drawing them from some later Greek and Latin writers. The 
following is a translation from a recent Armenian work, en- 
titled, "The History of the Holy Apostolic Church of Arme- 
nia." The author is Vartabed M. Muradian, of St. James' 
Monastery at Jerusalem. It is sweet and comforting to dis- 
course of the revealed truths of the Bible, which is the only 
foundation of undefiled doctrine, to which always have the 
Holy Church fathers trusted for the defense of faith. 

"The Bible teaches concerning God two things: First, 
that God is one and there is no other God beside Him. 
Second, that divine nature is common to the Father, to the 
Son, and to the Holy Spirit, and these three persons have one 
Godhead. This is the faith of the Christians in harmony 
with the manifest word of the Bible. This trinity is the foun- 
dation of the Christian faith, and the three persons have one 
influence for our salvation, but in different ways of manifest- 
ing it; that is, the Father calls and causes us to approach His 
Son, whom be begat from eternity and prepared His coming. 
The Son came from heaven and was united with human 
nature that he might save us from sin and give eternal life 
to our souls. The Holy Spirit is our regenerator, who re- 
established in us the likeness of God, making us receptive of 
the salvation offered of God. 

"The Bible teaches that Christ, on account of His eternal 
generation from the Father, is called the Son of God, but for 
His incarnation in time, the Son of Man, brother of men, 
through whom we obtained the right to call God our Father, 
and for this reason the Church confesses in the personality 
of Christ two natures, divine and human, distinct and insep- 
arable in their union. This mystery of incarnation is the 
great mystery of God's love for the world; and as much as 
this is incomprehensible and inconceivable by human intelli- 
gence, so much is it natural with divine love and omnipo- 
tent nature. In this great mystery was the salvation of man- 
kind; for this the entire humanity waited, and therefore the 



1^4 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

law and the prophets in this mystery of incarnation were 
fulfilled. Because Christ, as the true Messiah, performed 
prophetic, priestly and kingly offices, and became for us 
true prophet, true priest and true King; teaching the doctrine 
of redemption, elucidating the past, the present, and the fu- 
ture of mankind, forgiving and reigning over us with a 
heavenly and spiritual kingdom. 

"The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit proceeds and 
flows from the Father, not as a common influence of God, but 
as a person of the Holy Trinity, infinite, eternal, a true God. 
But with respect to us, the Holy Spirit is the source of union 
of God to Man ; the seal by which "we are known as Chris- 
tians; because without the Holy Spirit's dwelling in us. His 
help and guidance, we are only alive, for the Holy Spirit is 
co-worker with the Father and the Son for our salvation; and 
as the manifestation of God through Christ, to the world, is 
called redemption, so also the revelation of God through the 
Holy Spirit is denominated regeneration and sanctification. 

"At this present day there is not a book like the Bible 
from which the intellectual world has been able to derive 
so much good for the real well being and progress of human 
society. There is not a book, and cannot be, that is trans- 
lated into so many languages and is distributed so exten- 
sively as the Bible. Our immortal translators felt this great 
want, and they began the first step of the nation's enlighten- 
ment and progress by the translation and study of the Holy 
Scriptures, and this translation is so choice, with various 
praises bestowed upon it by the European scholars of the 
present century, who know the Armenian language, it is 
called the Queen of Versions. But we will be giving a still 
greater praise to our forefathers if we generalize the study of 
the Holy Scriptures among our people and rear the edifice of 
education upon that solid foundation of the Word of God."* 

By no means should the reader think that the writer is 

* " History of the Holy Apostolic Church of Armenia," pp. 171-121, 127-8. 




AN ARMENIAN PRIEST IN CHURCH UNIFORM. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I55 

partial in not telling something of the superstitions, formal- 
ism and ignorance still in existence and practice among the 
Armenians and in their church. It has often been written 
and spoken, even with a great lack both of knowledge and 
charity. Had those writers on these subjects of the Armenian 
Church and people remembered that for almost fifteen centu- 
ries this church has been in constant conflict with Paganism, 
Zoroastrianism, Mohammedanism, and the evil influences of 
the corrupt Greek and Roman Churches, they would not 
have been so severe in their denunciations of that old relic of 
the ancient Christian Church. 

Often were the bishops and priests in the battlefield with 
their flocks against the enemy of the Church. Often were they 
in chains, in imprisonment, in hostage, at the Pagan, Mo- 
hammedan, and so called Christian courts; often were they 
carried away into captivity and massacred by their captors. 
How could they give more attention than they did give to 
the education and enlightenment of their people, 
and to the purity of the Church? Even to-day the best 
intellects of the Armenian clergy, the lovers of the reform and 
purity of the Church and people, are in either exile or 
bondage by the Russian, Persian, and Ottoman Empires. 
These circumstances certainly will not justify the condition 
of the Armenian Church, but they ought to modify the se- 
verity of our judgment and fill us with a deeper sympathy, 
with a truer Christian love and activity for its reform, purity, 
and spiritual prosperity. 



CHAPTER VII. 

MISSIONARY WORK AMONG THE ARMENIANS IN TURKEY AND 

ITS RESULTS. 

When the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in 
the United States were united for the work of evangehzing the 
world, one of the first things they did was to send Revs. Pliny 
Fisk, Levi Parsons, W. Goodell and Bird, that they may spread 
the Gospel throughout Turkey and reform the Christian people 
who were sitting in darkness. This was between 1819 and 
1823. 

These missionaries were landed and stationed at Beyrouth, 
Syria, for the purpose of evangelizing the Armenians in that 
city. In March and April, 1821, two of them went to Jerusa- 
lem, that they may preach the Gospel to the large multitude of 
Armenian pilgrims who flocked there at that time on account 
of their Easter. 

Rev. Levi Parsons, one of the missionaries who went to 
Jerusalem, was an amiable, gentle, and sweet-natured man, and 
soon won the confidence and love of all who met him, especially 
of the notables in the Armenian church at Jerusalem. These 
men, after they found out Mr. Parsons' mission to Jerusalem, 
did not only consent to have the work of reformation begun in 
Jerusalem, but they also asked him to go to Constantinople, 
confer with the priests and notables of the church there, and 
begin the work of reformation. 

This proposition Mr. Parsons gladly wrote to the mission- 
aries in Beyrouth. But owing to their unfamiliarity with the 
Armenian language, Revs. Goodell and Bird thought it would 
be best not to start any mission in Jerusalem for the time being. 
They thought it would be expedient for them to undertake the 




AN ARMENIAN MONK. 



AND fH£ ARMENIANS. I57 

work only after the translation of the Bible in the Turkish lan- 
guage. But in the Providence of God a way was being pre- 
pared for them. For Bishop Dyonisius and Krikor Vartabed 
— the latter an Armenian bishop — being enlightened by the 
Gospel light, rendered the missionaries invaluable help to trans- 
late the Bible, both in Armeno-Turkish and Armenian vernacu- 
lar. With the untiring efforts of these two prelates the Bible 
was printed in the vernacular, and was spread by them, in com- 
pany with one of the missionaries, far and wide in Asia Minor. 
They went almost everywhere, and gave away Bibles. They 
came to my native town, which fact I, as a child, remember very 
distinctly. 

At the close of this missionary tour, in 1826, Rev. W. 
Goodell, in company with two young Armenians, went to the 
island of Malta for the purpose of printing the Bible in the 
popular Armenian. They were there four years, and on their 
return the missionaries decided to make Constantinople a mis- 
sion station, that they may start the work of reformation over 
there. In 1 831 and '32 the American Board sent Revs. Elias 
Riggs, Dwight, Bliss and Cyrus Hamlin to work with Rev. W. 
Goodell. The first thing the missionaries did in Constanti- 
nople was to establish a school, educate the youth, print and 
publish Bibles and portions of Scriptures and religious tracts, 
thus to spread religious knowledge and enlightenment among 
the Armenians. To this some ignorant people opposed. But 
the chief men and especially the Armenian patriarchs were in 
hearty sympathy with the missionaries in regard to the reforma- 
tion of their national church and the enlightenment of their 
youth. 

But right here the Missionaries had another opposition. 
The Jesuit propagandists, who were in Constantinople to con- 
vert Armenians to Roman Catholicism, w^ere jealous of the 
missionaries, and did all they could to frustrate all their labors 
in the way of evangelization. 

In 1836 the Roman Catholic and Greek patriarchs tried 
very hard to influence the Armenian patriarch against the mis- 



158 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

sionaries. In this they were successful. They now set to work 
and enticed the Armenians away from the missionaries and 
everything that savored of Protestantism. The resuh was that 
the Armenian patriarch changed his friendly attitude toward 
the missionaries, convened a general ecclesiastical meeting, 
sent an encyclical to all the Armenian churches throughout the 
Turkish empire, forbidding every Armenian from having any- 
thing to do with the missionaries, with the Protestant Bibles 
and with the Protestant views. Anybody who opposed or dis- 
obeyed, any one who did not burn his Bible would be under 
the ban and anathema of the church. But in the wonderful 
providence of God thousands of the Bibles had already found 
entrance to many an Armenian family. 

The result of this ofHcial opposition by the church was the 
general persecution of Protestant brethren and missionaries by 
the common people and the burning of thousands of volumes 
of the Scriptures. I myself was beaten and imprisoned 
three times. I had to keep my Testament in my pocket 
for three months, could not read it openly, but had to look for 
secluded places to read the words of life. 

This general and wide-spread persecution resulted in an 
endless commotion. Everybody discussed the question. In 
every house, street-corner and meeting-house the general topic 
of discussion was the annihilation of Protestantism from Tur- 
key. Although the missionaries and the brethren were very 
patient in persecution and persevering in the good work they 
had undertaken, time came when they could no more endure 
the persecution. This was on July i, 1846 — the persecution 
had lasted ten years, when the first evangelical Armenian 
church was organized in Constantinople. This was also the 
first Protestant church in Turkey. 

From 1846 to '55 the new evangelical church was under 
the anathema of the Armenian national church. As a result of 
this ban all sorts of intercourse, intermarriage and trade with 
the Protestants were prohibited to the Gregorian Armenians. 
The brethren, a large part of whom belonged to the poorer 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 1 59 

class, were often unable to earn their daily bread, for no Grego- 
rian would hire a Protestant. Thus destitution, deprivation, 
ostracism and constant persecution were the natural outcome 
of the establishment of this new church. 

It was right at this time that the wonderful Providence of 
God intervened in behalf of the brethren. In 1853 Crimean 
war broke out between Russia and Turkey, and naturally the 
brethren were the greatest sufferers among the rest of the 
people. But Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, with his natural ingenuity, 
generosity and capability, established flour mills to furnish 
loaves of bread to the Turkish army. This he did under a con- 
tract with the Turkish government. In his mills he employed 
as many Protestants as he could, and so almost all of them 
were able to support themselves for three years. The earnings 
of the mills were so great that Dr. Hamlin was able to build 
several churches and lay aside some amount of money for a 
further emergency. At the close of the Russo-Turkish war in 
1856 a treaty was signed in Paris, according to which religious 
freedom was granted to all the Protestants and evangelical 
churches throughout Turkev. This was one of the numerous 
achievements of Rev. Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, whose name is so dear 
to every Armenian heart. 

Ladies and gentlemen, vou have seen by the foregoing 
brief description how the missionaries and the early brethren 
were persecuted and subjected to great sufferings. But when 
they saw the result of their labors thev were exceedingly glad 
and forgot what they had suffered and gave thanks to the Lord 
of the Vineyard. 

And now I want to call your attention to the outcome of 
the missionary labors and the work of evangelization during 
the past 51 years. 

I. Educationally Turkey has advanced wonderfully. 

Fifty or sixty years ago there was no school among the 
Armenians in Turkey, save a few monasteries and the websters' 
and dyers' shops, where but few boys could find their way to 
obtain a very meagre knowledge in reading and writing. As 



l60 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

to the girls, there was not a place of education to be found for 
them, and so they were absolutely destitute of even the first 
rudiments of learning. But the missionaries' labors of the 
past fifty-one years have borne their abundant fruit. To-day 
we have 485 common schools for boys and girls among our Pro- 
testant brethren. Five hundred young men and women are 
teaching in these schools. The number of boys and girls in 
these schools is over 15,000. We have 23 boarding high 
schools for boys and seventeen for girls. We have four col- 
leges for boys, in Constantinople, Aintab, Marsovan and Har- 
poot, in which educational institutions our young men are 
receiving the same same degree of education as young men in 
this country do in the American colleges. 

We have four theological seminaries, which supply preach- 
ers and pastors for our churches. In all these educational in- 
stitutions we have some 19,000 — 20,000 scholars in all. 

To-day 80 per cent, of all evangelical brethren are able to 
read and write, and owing to the establishment of kindergar- 
tens, I have no doubt the rate of literacy will be 90 per cent, 
before long. 

The annual contribution of the brethren for the work of 
evangelization is $15,000, which amount, being added to the 
allowance of the American Board, goes to help to enlighten 
and evangelize Armenians throughout Turkey. All these 
things, besides leaving their good impression and effect upon 
the other Christian churches, have also left a wholesome influ- 
ence over the Turkish part of the population. The result was 
that in all the hamlets, villages, towns and cities throughout 
Turkey schools were estabhshed for children of both sexes, 
which spread light and knowledge everywhere. Thus you see 
Protestants besides owning these schools became the pioneers 
of education to their neighbors. Here we want to thank all 
the missionaries for their untiring labors in this respect and the 
Christian friends in this country who sent these missionaries. 

2. A wonderful religious reformation is another outcome 
of missionary labors. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. l6l 

Six years before the first evangelical church was estab- 
lished in Constantinople a theological seminary was established 
in Bebek, Constantinople, where twenty Armenian young men 
were educated for preaching. These young men were sent to 
different parts of Turkey after the establishment of the first 
church. In the year 1846 evangelical churches were established 
in Nicomedia, Adabazar and Trebizond. The persecutions 
were renewed. But the more the persecutions were strength- 
ened the better the brethren were re-enforced and the more 
zealously they worked to spread the light of the Gospel. The 
number of the missionaries was augmented from time to time. 
They were stationed in the chief cities in the country. And 
now evangelical churches were being rapidly organized. Be- 
sides the cities I have already mentioned Erzeroum, Bitlis, Diar- 
bekr, Harpoot, Marsovan, Aintab, Aleppo, Marash, Tarsus, 
Adana, Kessab, Killis, Antioch and many other cities, town- 
ships and villages had their evangelical churches. 

In 1856 Abdul Mejid, the Sultan of Turkey, under the 
influence of the missionaries, issued an imperial edict, called 
Hatti Humayoun, by which religious freedom was granted to 
all Protestants. Thus the persecutions began to disappear and 
everybody was free to follow the way according to the dictation 
of his own conscience. 

To-day American Board has 157 missionaries in Turkey, 
which number includes all the married, single, male and female 
missionaries. These are stationed in fifteen different cities, 
where they superintend the educational and evangelistic work. 
There are no organized evangelical churches, with a church 
membership of 12,000. In these churches there are seventy- 
four ordained ministers, 730 preachers and 130 assistants. The 
Gospel is preached at 203 different places to at least 35,000 
souls every week. 

Twenty- two thousand men, women and children 
receive religious instruction in Sunday Schools every Sabbath. 
The total number of Protestants throughout Turkey is 45,000. 
Their annual contribution for the preaching of the Gospel is 



1 62 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

$48,ooo-$5o,ooo, which is one-third of the sum the Board spends 
in Turkey. We have about thirty self-supporting churches, 
among which the churches at Aintab, Marash, Uorfa, Harpoot, 
Cassarea, Marsovan, Adana, Tarsus and Kessab are note- 
worthy. We have many devoted, faithful and diligent native 
Christian workers. 

Christian ladies and gentlemen, all the labor you have 
undertaken, all the money you have spent, all the time you 
have devoted and all the prayers you have offered at the throne 
of grace have not been in vain, but they have had their abundant 
fruit. You gave thousands and thousands of your dollars and 
sent your missionaries to Turkey. Great many of them have 
died on the field of labor, and caused you to mourn their loss. 
But over against these all you have had an abundant harvest, 
for which you have our unending thanks. 

3. The institution of Young Men's Christian Associations 
has been beneficial to our churches in every way. Fifteen or 
twenty years ago our churches did not know anything about 
the organized labor of young Christians. But this important 
phase of Christian work has been introduced from this land to 
ours, and has created a new enthusiasm and activity in the 
church. 

During the eleven years of my ministry from 1869 to 1880 
the thought of how to lead young men to Christ greatly occu- 
pied my mind. As a result of my thoughts I used to bring 
together 30 or 40 of the young men in my church for prayer 
and conference, which proved to be a great help in the spiritual 
growth of those young men. As a result of these Christian 
labors in Marash we had a glorious spiritual awakening, -which 
added thirty-seven young men to the membership of the church. 
T never knew at the time of the existance of the Young Men's 
Christian Association in this country, nor did any other 
preacher in Turkey. 

Our beloved missionary. Rev. G. F. Montgomery, trans- 
lated into our language an article on the work of Young 
Men's Christian Associations in America. This he showed me, 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 163 

which widened my knowledge and importance of the work. I 
brought the matter before my church in Marash, and fully ex- 
plained to them the organization and the work of Young Men's 
Christian Associations. They took to the idea verv favorably 
and we immediately formed an association composed of twenty 
members. This was in 1876. From that day to this many 
similar associations have been organized throughout our 
churches in Turkey, in cities, townships and villages. 

The following are some of the lines of activity in which 
the members of these associations have proven themselves use- 
ful to the community among which they live, (i) Visitation 
of the sick. There are almost no hospitals in Turkey, and so all 
the poor patients of a parish are left entirely upon the care of 
such young men and such benevolent organizations. In this 
way the young men of the church have rendered invaluable 
service to the church, by visitine and comforting and providing 
medicine and food for poor sick people. (2) Visitation and 
helping of the poor. (3) Finding out the careless and cold 
and backslidden members of the church and bringing into the 
church people who would not otherwise go to church. (4) 
Home missionary work. These young men have sent teachers 
and preachers to many villages within their county, and in manv 
cases, where the villages were near the cities, they have them- 
selves visited and preached the words of life to the spirltuallv 
needy souls. (5) Every kind of humanitarian and Christian 
activity has been faithfully and efficiently performed by these 
young men. All these good works are the result of the devoted 
labors of these organizations of young men, who are the spirit- 
ual children of the missionaries you sent to us. 

4. The American missionaries have further helped in 
the progress of the Armenians in that they have translated and 
published the Bible and many religious tracts. That the pub- 
lishing of the Word of God in the vernacular Is the chief means 
of the uplifting of a people is well known to you. 

When the missionaries first came to Turkey the first thing 
they noticed In regard to the Armenian church was that the 



164 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

language of the Bible and all the ceremonies in the church was 
wholly different from the language of the common people. 
Consequently the people were left in utter darkness in regard 
to their religious and Christian duties. Besides the language 
of the church being wholly tmintelHgible to the average people, 
they did not possess the Bible or its portions, and even if one 
was fortunate enough to possess one, he was strictly forbidden 
by the priests to read it. The result was a general spiritual 
darkness. 

As I have mentioned before. Rev. W. Goodell had the Bible 
published in the vernacular as early as 1826. But there was 
soon felt a necessity of a revised edition of the Bible. In this 
the British and American Bible Societies raUied to the assist- 
ance of the missionaries. Their labors have put the Bible 
within the reach of even the poorest. These societies, that 
have published the Word of God in more than 300 different 
languages, have also translated and pubhshed it in thirteen 
different languages now spoken in Turkey. These languages 
are : Common Armenian, Armeno-Turkish (Turkish language 
in Armenian characters), Armeno-Kurdish (Kurdish language 
in Armenian characters), Arabo-Turkish (Turkish language in 
Arabic characters, Persian, spoken Chaldee, modest Greek, 
Greco-Turkish (Turkish language in Greek characters) and 
Bulgarian. Although these have greatly helped all the differ- 
ent nationalities in the Turkish empire, but the Armenians have 
been immeasurably helped and benefited. The fruitage of the 
missionary labors among the Armenians is the most conspicu- 
ous among the rest. Although the Armenian church at first 
opposed the new translation of the Bible and burned hundreds 
and thousands of copies, still finally the Word found its way 
into almost every Armenian home and has since done its won- 
derful work in the hearts of men, for it is written, "The law of 
the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." "Thy word is a lamp 
unto my feet and a light unto my path." "Is not my word like 
as a fire? salth the Lord; and like unto a hammer that breaketh 
the rock in pieces?" "The gospel of Christ is the power of 
God unto salvation to every one that believeth." 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 165 

A few anecdotes in connection with the first spread of 
the Gospel in Turkey are in order. I can say about myself that 
I was converted by the reading of the Bible. 

In 1852, when I was seventeen years old, some strangers 
came to my native city of Alboostan. After stopping at an 
inn for a few days they left the city, but left behind in their 
room four copies of the Gospel. The inn belonged to a cousin 
of mine, so he presented one of them to me. I read this 
book stealthily and always kept it in my pocket, for fear I 
would be persecuted for reading it, and besides had I read it 
in public it might have been taken from me and thrown into 
the fire. For two years I kept reading my Gospel, which 
worked its inevitable result upon my heart. I was convicted 
of my sinfulness, repented of my sins and found forgiveness 
to my sins and peace to my disturbed soul. Thus the Bible 
is the only means of my conversion and the subsequent hap- 
piness and blessings of my life. 

In 1869 I graduated from Marasli Theological Seminary. 
In 1870 I was sent by Mr. Powers, the missionary at Antioch, 
to preach the Gospel at Beilan. I moved there with my family. 
No Protestant preacher had gone there before and there 
was not a single Protestant in the city. I labored there seven 
months. First two months of my residence there people 
would not speak to me, nor have anything to do with me. I 
used to take the Bible in hand and go to coffee-houses and 
even to liquor saloons to see if I could find anybody to talk 
with on spiritual matters, but was unsuccessful. Finally, one 
day when I was going on the streets, a venerable old man, by 
the name of Tiros Agha, called out to me by my name to his 
store and said to me he would be glad if I called at his house 
once in a while. Upon inquiry I found out the old gentleman 
possessed a copy of the Gospel, several copies of religious 
works and a copy of Young's Nights. He told me that many 
people came to his house almost every night and that if I 
called at his house sometimes and explained the truth to them 
he would be greatly obliged. This was what I was anxiously 



1 66 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

looking for, and beginning with that day I kept going to his 
house and expounding the word for three or four hours to a 
very attentive and inquiring gathering. For five months I 
continued this Bible Class work in that dear old man's house. 
He himself, already a good man, was wholly converted, and 
through him many people accepted Jesus Christ as their Sa- 
viour, until at the present time Beilan has an evangelical church 
with about 300 members. Thus I have seen the power of the 
Gospel upon myself and upon many others like myself. We 
Protestant Armenians never forget the unselfish and untiring 
devotion of Father Goodell in his great work of translating 
and publishing the Bible in our spoken language, who, like 
John in the Isle of Patmos, was confined on the island of Malta 
for three years and later ten years in Constantinople that he 
might bring the word of truth within the reach of all. His edi- 
tion and translation of the Bible is held with great reverence 
in many an Armenian home, and I am proud to own a copy 
for my home use. Besides the thousands and thousands of 
copies of the Scriptures, 8,000,000 pages of religious tracts in 
twelve different languages are being yearly published by the 
missionaries. And so in the foregoing lines of Christian ac- 
tivity the work of the American missionaries has been very 
important for the Armenian nation. 

BY JUDSON SMITH, D. D., 

Secretary of the American Board. 

The first notice of an intended mission within the limits 
of the Turkish Empire appears in the Annual Report of the 
Board for 1819, nine years after the Board was organized. 
Missionaries of the Board were already at work in India and 
among the aboriginal tribes of America, and a mission to the 
Sandwich Islands was under contemplation. In this report 
the committee dwell upon the reasons for a special interest 
on the part of the Christian people in the re-establishment of 
pure Christianity in the historic regions honored by the earthly 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 167 

life of our Lord and traversed by his first disciples. Palestine 
was the region specially in mind, but the committee recognized 
the fact that the occupancy of a much wider field was included 
in the beginning of missionary work in Jerusalem, and the 
writer of this first report referred to "Smyrna, the provinces of 
Asia Minor, Armenia, Georgia and Persia, Mohammedan 
countries, in which, though there are many Jews and Christians, 
there is still a deplorable lack of Christian knowledge and of 
Christian life." Before this year had ended, the Rev. Levi 
Parsons and the Rev. Pliny Fisk were set apart to establish 
a mission at Jerusalem, and in the following year entered upon 
their labors, touching at Malta and taking up their residence 
at Smyrna for a time before they reached their destined field. 
From these labors, by a process of natural development, mis- 
sionary work at first intended for Palestine, afterward set up in 
the Island of Malta and in Athens, came to take a firm and 
lasting hold upon the Turkish Empire. 

In 183 1 work was opened at Constantinople by Dr. Good- 
ell, reenforced by Dr.Dwight in the following year, and thence 
gradually it was extended to Smyrna, Brusa, Trebizond, Erzum, 
Aintab, and so on throughoutthe entire district of Asiatic Turkey. 
The aim in the establishment of the original mission in Pales- 
tine and in these later stages of missionary work in Turkey, 
had respect to the entire population of the Empire; and this 
aim has never for a moment been abandoned or lost sight of, 
and remains to-day an unfulfilled but inspiring purpose. Actual 
missionary work, however, was restricted by the laws of the 
Empire to the Christian populations, chiefly the Armenians 
and the Greeks and to the Jews, and this has been the charac- 
teristic feature of the work of the Board in the Turkish Empire. 
An ancient but corrupted form of Christianity it has been 
sought to purify and bring back to a true acquaintance with 
the Gospels, a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a life 
molded in its spirit and aims by the Scriptures and by Him of 
whom they testify. It was not the intention of the missionaries 
to establish a separate Protestant community, but to assist, if 



1 68 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

possible, in a movement that should result in the reformation 
of the existing churches. The excommunication of the evan- 
gelicals from their own church and community by the Arme- 
nian Patriarch of Constantinople changed their plans and made 
necessary the organization of Protestant churches and of a 
Protestant community, which were at once formally recognized 
by the Turkish Government. This action took place in 1847 
and introduced a change in the methods of missionary work 
but not a change of aim. It is a most happy circumstance of 
these later days, that the reformation of the Gregorian churches 
which was making such progress prior to the separation has 
reappeared, that these churches have in many instances come 
into most friendly relations to the neighboring Protestant 
churches, the true evangelical spirit has manifested itself with 
cheering results among the priests and people, and the original 
hope of the mission has begun to be realized on a wide scale 
in many parts of the Empire. 

Originally the entire field of Turkey was regarded as one 
mission with its centre at Constantinople; but the practical 
difficulties of holding a yearly meeting of the mission at any 
one point, with other considerations, led to the division of the 
Empire into the four fields of the present time — the Western 
Turkey mission, embracing territorially the larger part, includ- 
ing as its stations Constantinople, Nicomedia, Brusa, Smyrna, 
Marsovan, Cesarea, Sivas and Trebizond; the Central Turkey 
mission, lying to the south of the Taurus Mountains, and to 
the west of the Euphrates Valley, with its two principal stations 
at Aintab and Marash ; the Eastern Turkey rnission, including 
what lies between these two fields and the Russian and Persian 
borders, having for its stations Erzrum,Harpoot,Mardin,Bitlis 
and Van ; and the mission in European Turkey, of later origin, 
chiefly among Bulgarians, with its stations at Monastir, Philip- 
popolis, Samokov and Salonica. From the beginning, work in 
behalf of the Greek Christians, found in certain parts of the 
Turkish Empire in considerable numbers, has constituted an 
integral and very interesting part of the whole enterprise, but 
has never constituted a distinct mission. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 169 

The languages employed in missionary work have been 
the Armenian, the Greek, the Turkish, the Bulgarian and in 
certain portions of the Central Turkey mission and of the East- 
ern Turkey mission the Arabic. The Bible translated into these 
languages, has been widely distributed, many text-books for 
school use have been provided, and a somewhat extended vol- 
ume of Christian literature has been made available for the 
people by the efforts of the missionaries. The Bible House at 
Constantinople, one of the great centers of missionary activity 
and a right arm ofthemlsslonarywork, sends out through all the 
Empire annually many millions of pages of the Scriptures and 
of other literature for the instruction and edification of the 
Christian people, as well as text-books for the mission schools. 

The direct Christian work in these missions in Turkey has 
been most energetic, widespread and effectual, and many self- 
supporting, evangelical churches are found In the great centers 
in each of the missions. Education has been a marked feature 
of the work in these missions almost from the beginning, and 
nowhere else in the fields occupied by the Board have we to-day 
so many institutions of a high grade, so fully attended. Ana- 
tolia College at Marsovan, Central Turkey College at Aintab, 
and the Institute of Samokov, for men alone, the American 
College for girls at Scutari, and the Central Turkey Female 
College at Marash, for women alone, and Euphrates College 
at Harpoot, for both men and women, are all institutions doing 
a work of true cohege grade adjusted to the special conditions 
found in the Turkish Empire. Robert College on the Bospo- 
rus, though entirely independent of the missions, is a striking 
result of missionary labors and strongly re-enforces missionary 
influence. These colleges are re-enforced by twenty-six high 
schools for boys, nineteen boarding schools for girls, all thor- 
oughly manned and attended by about 2,000 students, and 
by 350 common schools, with more than 16,000 pupils. At the 
head of all stand the five theological schools, in which men 
are trained directly for the native pastorate. It will suggest 
the breadth and fruitfulness of the work if attention is called 



I/O ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

to the 125 churches now in these missions, with 12,787 mem- 
bers with 100 native pastors, 128 other preachers and a total 
force of native laborers numbering "jy^. It is furth^^r evidence 
of the quality of these churches that last year they contributed 
for all purposes but little short of $68,000. 

A work having the same origin with these missions, con- 
ducted by the Board for many years, achieving a like success, 
and now in the care of the Presbyterian Board of New York, 
is in progress in Syria, having its great educational center at 
Beirut. The Reformed Presbyterian Church of America sus- 
tains a small but successful medical and educational work at 
Mersin in Asia Minor. Work in behalf of the Jews in differ- 
ent parts of the Empire, at first included in the missions of the 
Board, is now in the care of missionaries from Great Britain; 
there is also an interesting work supported by the Society of 
Friends in this country carried on in different parts of Pales- 
tine. But, providentially, the great bulk of the missionary 
work in the Turkish Empire has devolved upon the American 
Board, and has at length reached nearly every principal city 
and village in European Turkey and in the territory from the 
Dardanelles and the Mediterranean eastward to the Russian 
border, and from the Black Sea southward to Syria and Arabia. 

At no time has the work of the Board in Asiatic Turkey 
been in better condition or presented greater promise than 
within the last year. And it is upon the Armenian people, 
among whom this work has been so largely carried on, that 
a wild storm of massacre and pillage has fallen, sweeping the 
country from Trebizond southward into the valley of the 
Euphrates, westward to Marsovan and Cesarea and out to the 
Mediterranean Sea, covering the entire territory of the eastern 
and central missions and those parts of the Western Turkey 
mission that are adjacent. Thousands have been foully mur- 
dered, chiefly the leading business men, and hundreds of 
thousands of those dependent on them have been left utterly 
destitute; many a Protestant pastor and teacher has fallen 
in loyalty to his faith, and mission chapels and schools in 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I^I 

great numbers have been burned to the ground. The stations 
where educational work centered have been especially assailed, 
and at Harpiit and to some degree at Marash, the plant has 
been well-nigh swept out of existence, and the missionaries 
themselves exposed to deadly peril. Sympathy for the people, 
so broken and bleeding, is almost as widespread as Christianity 
and civilization, and generous gifts for their relief are steadily 
flowing to Constantinople. There is an additional reason why, 
for the American people, a peculiar interest should attach to 
the present situation in Turkey. Upon the uplifting and enlight- 
enment of a noble portion of the people in the Turkish Empire 
American citizens have already expended more than $6,000,- 
000, have established there a mission plant worth to-day 
$1,500,000, are annually devoting to the further development 
of this work a sum exceeding $150,000, and have there as 
their representatives, distributed in small groups over the 
whole Empire, a band of 152 men and women, among the 
noblest and the best that our Christian homes and schools can 
produce. The bearing of these men and women in the midst 
of the terrible scenes of the last four months, their calmness 
when the people were filled with dread in view of the approach- 
ing scourge, their courage when death was all around them 
and even when it stared them in the face, their faith that out of 
all this tumult and distress will come the enlargement of 
God's kingdom in this land, their steadfast purpose to remain 
at their posts and share the troubles of their people and min- 
ister to their wants, proof against the natural shrinking of 
their own hearts, against the pleading of friends at home, 
against the persuasions even of those to whom they must 
look for protection — these things have won for them the meed 
of universal praise. The name missionary has gained a new 
definition by deeds like these, and instead of a term of re- 
proach or ridicule, it has become almost a synonym of hero 
and heroine. And all this noble conduct has filled the Arme- 
nian nation with boundless love and gratitude, and has bound 
their hearts to the missionaries with hooks of steel. Hence- 



iy2 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

forth this whole nation will be like wax in the hands of these 
their protectors and benefactors and personal friends. And 
even beyond the Armenian people, many and many of th^ 
Moslems are noting this high proof of the Christian faith, and 
are enshrining in their hearts' admiring love the names we 
cherish, and longing for a share of their faith. 

But it is as teachers and exemplars of the Christian faith 
and life, not as political deliverers, that they have won their 
place; no political aim has ever been allowed to enter intp 
this widespread and most effective Christian labor; and the 
missionary operations of the Board stand clear of all respon- 
sibility for the grave political disturbances which threaten 
the stability of the Empire. They have been loyal to the ex- 
isting Government and have inculcated this duty upon their 
pupils; they have sought to make better men and better citi- 
zens of all those with whom they have had to do ; and no truer 
friends of the Turkish Empire and of all its people than the 
American missionaries have lived within its borders these 
seventy years past. For the protection of themselves and of 
their legitimate enterprise within that territory guaranteed 
by treaty rights, and numerous precedents, and long con- 
tinued usage, we may justly claim the utmost exertions of 
our own Government and the friendly regard of all mankind. 
It cannot be that upon this work, to which so many precious 
lives have been given, on which such treasures have been ex- 
pended, on the successful maintenance of which such vast 
interests depend, ruin hopeless and universal is now to fall. 
May we not rather cherish the hope that this storm is for 
cleansing and purifying and shall endure but for a night, 
and that a day of brightness and glory is soon to dawn upon 

this great Empire. 

Boston, Mass. 

But alas! the result of their labor has been ruthlessly 
dealt with by the cruel Turks at the late massacres, 4,000 or 
5,000 Protestants alone have been butchered, their personal 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 173 

property have been plundered and several thousands have 
taken refuge in the United States. I am one of of those suf- 
fering refugees, who with members of my family am in great 
difficulty. To-day there are in the United States more than 
200 graduates of the American colleges in Turkey. Some of 
them are at work with various occupations, but the majority 
of them have no work to do. Ladies and gentlemen, these 
are the children of your missionaries. What are you going 
to do about them? They are now returned to you for help. 
If the Congregational Church does not take care of them, 
what denomination will. All the evangelical Armenians in 
this country are your foster children. Your missionaries, 
your prayers and your money brought them up. If you do 
not take care of them, I am afraid others will carry them ofif. 
But I myself cannot consent to it. After receiving so much 
blessing from them how can I turn against them and be un- 
grateful to them. For all we are to-day we owe to the Con- 
gregational Churches in this country. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE LAST HORRORS OF THE ARMENIANS IN TURKEY. 

The events which have happened in Turkey during the 
last twenty years have drawn the special attention of the 
nations and governments of the whole of Europe, and have 
employed not only the skill of the diplomatists, but the pens 
of journalists every morning, and the evening newspapers 
have been examined for the purpose of learning the civilization 
or reformation of the Ottoman Empire. 

The principal point considered in this contest has hitherto 
been the political, but people have entirely lost sight of its 
religion and moral aspects; still the oppressions and persecu- 
tion of Christians can never be fully understood by those who 
may be born in a free land like you are, where there are no 
Turks, Kurds, Circassians, Georgians, Zaibacks and no Mo- 
hammedanism with its oppressions and persecutions to the 
Christians. 

Therefore I propose to consider the religion and political 
causes that have ruined the population of Turkey entirely. 

But the questions arise. Why the Sultan orders (during 
the last few years) the Turks, Kurds, or other followers to 
destroy the Christians, whereby more than one hundred thou- 
sand (100,000) of them have recently been killed and five hun- 
dred thousand have been rendered homeless and left to die 
of starvation among the streets and out in the mountains? 
and again why the Sultan ordered all who are willing to ac- 
cept the Mohammedanism that have never been referred to 
with any sort of correctness by the newspapers or periodicals 
in their accounts of the dreadful oppressions taking place in 
Armenia, or all over Asia Minor? 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 175 

I. The first cause of the horrors to the Armenians of 
Turkey is that chiefly of the Mohammedan rehgion. 

Though the Islamism or Mohammedan rehgion is di- 
vided into a great many sects, but the moral precepts and laws 
of all are based upon the book of Koran. The book of 
Koran is not an apt instrument to keep pure the moral 
character of the population of the Turks; on the other hand 
it causes the opportunity for the greater corruption in moral 
respects, with that it nourishes in its followers a spirit of im- 
proving animosity and opposition to non-Mohammedan 
races and nationalities. 

The following facts are the most interesting points which 
have attracted my attention: 

A. The book of Koran teaches that the sinner having 
once performed his ablution and said his prayers, his sins 
should be forgiven. Ablution means that a man goes to a 
fountain of running water or takes some water from a jug and 
washes his head, ears, mouth, arms and feet, regarding that 
those sins were committed by those members and are washed 
away. 

But a dying person who is unable to perform above re- 
ligious duties can have the same forgiveness by raising his 
forefinger and with it confess that there is one God, and 
Mohammed is the true prophet; even then if the person is 
unable to do so he need only repeat the above confession in 
his mind, whose sins, having been instantly wiped away, he is 
made as white as snow. 

B. The book of Koran, moreover, teaches that all Moham- 
medan people shall go to the seventh heaven any way, where 
all the sensual indulgences known on earth will await them; 
even others of a more degrading and bestial character. The 
language with which these ideas are clothed is so indelicate 
that it can hardly bear repeating in society. 

Nobody who has not lived in Turkey can realize how 
hopeless, almost self-contradicting, it is to talk of ''reforming'' 
Turkey. It could not be reformed and be Mohammedan Tur- 



176 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

key. The lack of reform or power of reform is just what 
makes it what it is. The root of evil is Mohammedanism 
itself; it is embodied social stagnation, corruption, ultimate 
ruin. Neither the Sultan nor the Turks can improve the state 
of the Empire, even if they wished. The usual "broad- 
minded" statements about Mohammed and his religion are 
simply elaborations of ignorance, made up out of men's 
own minds, and what they think must be true. It is customary 
for writers to talk in this fashion. Mohammedanism is a half- 
way house to Christianity. Mohammed converted the heathen 
Arabs to a belief in the true God. Mohammed established a 
great religion and a great empire, etc., etc. There is no truth 
in this, for all its plausible sound. Mohammedanism is not 
even on the road to Christianity; and Arabia, Asia Minor, and 
Palestine were all much better off before the Mohammedan 
conquest than -after it. Buddhism and Brahmanism are bet- 
ter religions than Mohammedanism. The Chinese, the Japan- 
ese, the people of India are much more religious that the 
Turks. The Chinese Emperor and the Japanese Mikado are 
far better men than the Mohammedan Sultan. The heathen 
religions rear better men than Mohammedanism. The Mon- 
gols are more humane and sympathetic than the Turks. 
Heathenism at its worst, though a low form of religion, is really 
a form of religion; but Mohammedanism is not a religion 
at all. 

Then what is it? It is a system of imposture and false 
pretense, and of lives of human lust and cruelty. Mohammed 
practiced all this, and his successors have done the same and 
taught the same ever since; and the system means just that 
now, and nothing else. There is neither love nor sympathy, 
manliness nor humanity in Mohammedanism. Can a sys- 
tem lacking all these be considered a religion? This is the 
substance of Mohammed's teaching: "Love your fellow be- 
lievers, hate and slay all wlio refuse to accept your religion. 
Marry as many wives as you can afford; if you can afford but 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 177 

one, do not repine, for you shall have seven thousand to enjoy 
in Paradise." 

The Mohammedan religion teaches that every be- 
liever after having died in that faith will be married to 
seventy thousand virgins in Paradise, so as they can enjoy all 
the happiness in gratifying the desires of flesh. In the book of 
Koran the picture of Paradise is drawn as such that all forms 
of pleasure and happiness as expected to be the outcome of 
jealousy and selfishness is to be found there, also not one 
faithful or one who believes in one God and confess Moham- 
med a true prophet of God, and those who bring Selavat will 
under any circumstances go to Hell, but will undoubtedly go 
to the Paradise as described in the book of Koran. If you 
conquer a country, show no mercy to the people unless they 
embrace Islam. If they refuse, either kill them or make slaves 
of them. What sort of reformers can you expect in Turkey, 
when the very religion that is to make people better incul- 
cates such principles. If one does not know a language he 
cannot speak it; if he has not a principle he will not practice 
it. How can the Sultan, a vicious man to begin with, trained 
in a religion calculated to make a cruel and licentious ani- 
mal even out of a decent man, reform anything? His very 
religion forbids it; he cares nothing for the religion when it 
stands in his way, but he will follow its injunction to please 
the Mohammedans, especially when they gratify and justify 
his worst passions. I shall be asked if the Mohammedans do 
not believe in one God. and the same God as the Christian, 
and if that does not make it a religion, and very near that 
of Christian. Yes, they do; and so do the devils. That is 
what Mohammedanism is — the religion of devils. Most of 
the Turkish conversation consists of oaths and smut. I do 
not mean among the common people — theirs is nothing else 
— but of the educated upper classes, their scholars, teachers, 
governors, and priests. I came in contact with them for 
years, and I hated to listen to them, their talk was so full of 
cursing and filth. Vou never see the fruits of the spirit in 



1^8 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

them; only the fruits of the f!esh. They do not understand 
what spiritual life Is; with them all is sense — eating and drink- 
ing, finery and lust — lust above all, everywhere and always — 
like cattle. They seem never able to forget sex and its uses. 
The whole Mohammedan system is designed to make, the 
gratification of lust as easy and plentiful as possible short of 
a promiscuity that would lead to civil anarchy. A Moham- 
medan can divorce his wife any time, no matter how many 
children she or he has. He does not much care for his chil- 
dren; only he pleases by paying back her dower, and marry 
another to do likewise; every week, or day, if he sees fit, 
he can re-marry and re-divorce the first one as often as he 
pleases. It is like trading horses ; as little sentiment or moral- 
ity in one as the other, the slightest possible regulation of 
sheer animal desire. 

There is, however, one form of divorce which is com- 
plete, and does not allow of re-marriage until another mar- 
riage has intervened ; that is called the ieuchden docuza (mean- 
ing from three to nine divorce, from the terms the husband 
uses in doing it. He says to her, "I divorce you three to 
nine." Nobody knows what it means or meant. After this, 
if he wants his wife back, he must get somebody else to marry 
with her, and then he divorce her regularly; and as this is 
perilous, because the second husband after marrying her 
may take a notion to keep her, or any way keep her much 
longer that the first one relishes, or demand a large sum of 
money, the usual plan is to fix a very poor man, or a blind 
beggar (preferably blind, so that he canot see the wife, and 
be so charmed by her beauties that he will wish to keep her) ; 
get him to become the woman's husband for a few days, and 
then pay him something to divorce her, then the first can 
marry her again if he chooses. There are many more speci- 
mens of Mohammedan "purity" too shameful to write, and 
too shameful to read. I cannot soil the paper with them. 
But I must mention one more engine of corruption which lies 
at the very root of Mohammedanism itself, the pilgrimage to 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 179 

Mecca, to the birthplace of Mohammed in Arabia. Once 
a year Mohammedan pilgrims from every quarter of the 
world go to Mecca to pay homage to their beloved prophet, 
averaging 200,000 to 500,000 a year. It is their duty to sacri- 
fice. This is done on the hills which surround the great tem- 
ple, the greatest mosque in the world. It is a square building, 
which covers several acres of land. Just in the cluster is 
the Holy Well, called Zamzem. Mohammedans believe that if 
they drink of that water, hell fire cannot burn them, and 
every pilgrim does so. Then they begin to die from cholera 
to the tune of fifty thousand a year or so, for the well is a mere 
cesspool. You see, after cutting the throats of the animals, 
they leave the filth and blood just as they are, for the Mo- 
hammedan religion does not allow the sacrifice to be touched. 
The sandy soil absorbs this putrid filth, which leaks into the 
well. But it is a great merit to die on the spot where Mo- 
hammed was born; one goes straight to heaven if he does. 
That is not the worst, however; they fill bottles with that 
water and carry it to their families and friends throughout 
the Turkish Empire, Persia and India, from which cholera 
is spread abroad over the world. 

The pilgrims do not take their wives as far as the birth- 
place of Mohammed, but leave them half way, and on reach- 
ing Mecca they marry temporarily. About 20,000 prosti- 
tutes there make a business of being short-term wives of the 
pilgrims, getting $5 to $25 from each, and being his wife 
for anywhere from a day to a fortnight, so that each woman 
marries from fifty to a hundred pilgrims a year. This is not 
prostitution; it is religion — and Mohammedan "purity." 
Mecca is considered the most holy spot on earth by Moham- 
medans; but it is the most corrupt spot; it is a hell, and the 
Mohammedan Paradise is worse than Mecca. 

The Mohammedan religion sets strict rules prohibiting 
the true freedom to female sex. While requiring them to 
perform all the other religious duties in mosques where men 
worship, there will not be one woman among them. As ex- 



l8o ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

ception to this rule one might see an old woman, and that' 
to be over sixty years of age. Usually the female sex are 
expected to perform their religious duties and do the act of 
worshipping in the house. 

Mthough the book of Koran accepts the object in 
the formation of families (of family) to the generation of hu- 
manity, yet that pure object is ignored only through their 
passion; they distinguish the difference between the unlawful 
from-iawful in this manner, that without ever having seen 
each other, though the declaration of a few representative wit- 
nesses of the parties to be married that the marriage ceremo- 
nies are performed. It has taught that the wife of a married 
man should not be seen by any other man; therefore each 
Mohammedan woman is kept under the rules of namehram; 
iHat is to say, the wife of a married man should not be seen 
by any other men, and if any man come to the house or the 
wife has to go out of the house, her head, face and the entire 
body, should be covered, and if it should be seen or under- 
stood that she has disobeyed this rule, is lawfully considered 
divorced on the ground that she has been unfaithful to her 
husband. Young girls also should not be seen by a man nor 
should they talk to a man. 

A married man enjoys privileges to such an extent that 
he has full right to divorce a wife without any reason or ex- 
cuse, even though he may have many children by that wife, 
and can marry any other woman he may wish. A Moham- 
medan has the right to marry three more wives while he is mar- 
ried and living with the first wife. 

Mohammedan women are not allowed the true liberty, 
an^ they must be kept under the ruling of the hand. They 
are treated like slaves; consequently, wishes a Mohammedan 
husband can respect or show objection or trust his wife, nor 
his wife can think the house in which she lives is her own nor 
assured that she is to live with this husband until death; thus 
there is on true family can be found among are supppressed. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. l8l 

It is better for a Mohammedan girl to be sold like a 
slave rather than to be the wife of a Mohammedan man. 

This is one of the principal teachings of the book of 
Koran. There are other similar teachings of this book that 
deprive the female sex of their rights and liberty by the few 
examples here given of the true nature of Mohammedanism. 

In one v^ord, Mohammedans have no right to exist, 
politically, socially, or religiously. In the first they have 
wrought nothing but ruin; in the second nothing but corrup- 
tion ; in the third nothing but devilishness. They are working 
nothing else now in either of the three. They have never 
built up anything; they are pure destroyers. The day one 
becomes a Mohammedan he loses his intellect, his skill and 
his common sense. Mohammedanism is a poison, fatal to any 
good gifts or graces; it cultivates in him falsehood, cruelty 
and lust. It was sent by God for a curse to the Christians, as 
a punishment, just as the Philistines were sent to the people 
of Israel. 

The book of Koran, moreover, teaches that all those who 
are not Mohammedans should be frequently invited to the true 
religion; that in case of complying with the invitation they 
should be well treated and receive every consideration; 
should they, however, perish in rejecting the true faith, all 
the possessions of the obstinates are declared to belong le- 
gally to the true believers, and here is the Fetua, or sacred 
sentence. "If the Gyver or Kaiiifir (the blasphemer) does not 
renounce his blasphemy, his life should be taken away, and 
all his goods appropriated by the true believers." Although 
this is not the present practice of the Moslems, it has been the 
only rule for centuries past. 

Therefore, by the few examples here given, the true 
nature of the Mohammedan religion may be clearly ascer- 
tained. That religion, as you may observe, gives many oppor- 
tunities for the corruption of the morals of mankind, and with 
it endangers the morals and materials of humanity. One of 
the causes of deterioration of Christianity in the East is, and 



1 82 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

are apt to follow the bad example set before them. It is from 
this spirit the book of Koran, that the blood of many inno- 
cent persons has been shed in Turkey; it is from this spirit 
that children and delicate women have been ill-treated. 

It has already been shown to be not a religion, but a 
system of falsehood, hatred, cruelty, lust, and sensuality. Of 
course these things combined can only result in corruption. 

It would seem that Mohammed must have taken his 
inspiration from both the domestic and a bull. A rooster is 
a polygamist; he has his hens without limit. He claimed to 
have received a revelation from heaven directing him to take 
to himself any woman he pleased, no matter whether she was 
married and had a husband or not; that made no diflference 
with Mohammed. He took any woman he wanted, and if her 
husband objected he was sure to be put to death. Moham- 
medans cannot differ from their prophet; they follow him; 
they strive to imitate him just as much as true Christians 
strive to follow and imitate Christ. 

The Sultan grows more of a beast and more of a fiend 
as he grows older, and all the Mohammedans are of the same 
stripe. Armenian men and Armenian women alike dread 
the approach of an old Turk far more than of a young one. 
Unless one has witnessed a fight between bulls he can have 
little idea of Turkish warfare; no animal fight can approach 
it in ferocity or insatiability. When a bull conquers another, 
he never leaves him until he gores him to death ; so when Mo- 
hammedans conquer a nation, be sure they will exterminate 
it. To them mercy means apostasy. To leave a man alive or 
a woman unravished is to be false to the precepts of Moham- 
med. Thev cannot help it; it is their relig-ion; a religion for 
wild animals. Their priests ?o to the mosques and preach to 
them thus: "O, believers in Mohammmed, love your fellow 
believers, but hate and kill all others; they are Giaours, 
heathen doe-s, filthy hogs." To kill a Christian and to kill a 
hog is all the same to a Mohammedan; there is as little sin in 
one as the other. The priests of Mohammedan Khojas say: 




SULTAN ABDUL HAMID II. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 183 

"Go ask them to accept our religion; if they do you must not 
harm them, but if they will not, kill them, for they have no 
right to live in a Mohammedan country; it is not only no sin, 
but a great virtue. The more Christians you kill the greater 
reward you will have from Allah (the God) and his prophet 
Mohammed." 

The Turks are slaughtering Armenians to earn this reward. 
Of course if the men apostatize they are spared ; but the Turk 
has no notion of losing the gratification of his lust on the 
women in that way. A woman who falls into their hands need 
not hope to keep her virtue on any terms, even by abjuring 
her rehgion. They violate her first, and force her to become 
a Mohammedan afterwards. 

Let it be fully understood throughout the Christian world 
that the massacre is a religious demand. The Turks have to 
comply. As a Christian tries to be faithful to Christ and His 
teachings, so the Turks are trying to be faithful to their 
prophet and his. They go to the mosques and pray, ''Allah, 
(O God), help us; strengthen our hands and sharpen our 
swords to kill the infidel Armenian." Then they come from 
the mosques and begin to kill, and plunder, and outrage, and 
commit every sort of indescribable atrocity on the peaceable 
and defenseless Armenian. And it will grow worse instead of 
better, since so-called Christian nations have given the Sultan 
public notice that they will not interfere with him. Do not be 
deceived by his lying reports. They did not kill the Turks; 
they never dreamed of such madness. This awful fate has 
fallen on them purely and simply for being Christian. 

The second cause of the horrors to the Armenians of 
Turkey, is a despotic government. 

According to the Koran, the Sultan of the Empire is also 
Khalif of the Mohammedan religious world. He cannot ab- 
dicate either oi^ce, if he would, without vacating the other 
by the same act. 

In fact, herein lies the secret of the present Sultan's policy, 
which seems suicidal on general principles of government. 



184 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

He has been lavish in the building and repairing of the 
mosques and the rooms of prayer meeting, and also in estab- 
lishing Moslem schools throughout his dominions. 

The Ottoman Government is a politico-religious system. 
This is the necessary constitution of any Mohammedan sover- 
eign state, but the conception has special force and vitality 
in Turkey, whose sovereign claims to be the Mohammedan, 
and thus the Khalif of the Mohammedan world. The whole 
fabric of the Turkish Empire rests on a religious foundation; 
this religious foundation is not the general religious principle 
in man, but the particular form of religion established by 
Mohammed. The Sultan is a good conscientious Mohamme- 
dan. It is only fair to believe, even if he were not a sincere 
believer, he would still feel compelled to adopt the same course 
as a matter of internal political necessity. The Moslem popu- 
lation look to him as the defender of the faith, girded with the 
sword of the prophet. He feels it imperative at hazards to 
regain lost prestige over his fanatical subjects, especially in 
the South, where rumblings of discontent and disloyalty are 
ominous. 

According to the book of the Koran, which is the basis 
and ultimate authority of Mohammedan law, — Code Napo- 
leon, treaty stipulatoins, and Imperial Trades notwithstand- 
ing, — the whole non-Moslem population of Turkey are out- 
laws. The millions of ancient hereditary inhabitants, whether 
Greek, Armenian, Nestorian, Jacobite, Jew, or Syrian are 
considered aliens. Their legal status is that of prisoners of 
war, with corresponding rights and responsibilities. Not one 
of them is expected or even allowed to serve in the army. 
Non-Moslems, whose services are indispensable to the Gov- 
ernment, are, in rare cases, put in civil offices, especially where 
integrity or ability can be found. It cannot be denied that the 
above is true in theory, and it is equally true that the theory 
is carried out so far as fear of intervention by Christian na- 
tions permits. So far as we can judge the Sultan is a sincere 
and honest Mohammedan, and regards himself as a true 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 185 

Khalif — or successor of the prophet of Mohammed. He is 
the chief defender of the faith; under God the absolute arbiter 
of its destinies. He has undoubtedly done his best to recon- 
cile the interests of the Khalifate with those of the Empire. 

In one particular (the policy of the Sultan) is condemned 
by most enlightened Mohammedans, as strongly as by Chris- 
tians. His attempt to concentrate the whole administration 
of the Empire in his own hands has led to the establishment 
of a dual government — that of the palace and the Porte. 
The whole machinery of a government exists at the Porte. 
There are ministers and fully organized departments; there 
is a council of ministers and a council of state. All business 
is supposed to pass through their hands, and the whole ad- 
ministration is supposed to be subordinate to them. All is, 
of course, subject to the supreme will of the Sultan, but his 
official advisers and his official agents are at the Porte. 

The government of Turkey, under the supreme rule of 
the Sultan, is composed of the Sublime Porte and the council 
of state; under those there is the administration of the de- 
partments in the central government, and of the provinces 
throughout the Empire. There is, however, an informal, yet 
none the less powerful element, known sometimes as the 
privy council, or the palace party. 

The Sublime Porte, which derives its name from the 
gate where the early Sultans held their audiences, and which 
enter the seraglio grounds near the Mosque of St. Sophia, 
corresponds very closely to the cabinets of other countries. 
Its officers are the Grand Vizier, the Sheikh-ul Islam, the 
Ministers of the Interior, of War, Evkaf, Public Instruction, 
Public Works, Foreign Afifairs, Finance, Marine, Justice and 
the Civil List, and the President of the State. The Grand 
Vizier receives his appointment immediately from the Sultan, 
and makes up his own Cabinet, though with the Sultan's ap- 
proval. He has no particular portfolio, but presides over the 
general Government, and his word is ordinarily all-powerful 
in any of the departments. The Sheikh-ul Islam also nomi- 



l86 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

nally receives his appointment direct from the Sultan, but in 
most cases is the choice of the Grand Vizier. He is not, as is 
so often supposed, the head of the Moslem religion, but is 
the representative in the Cabinet of the Ulima, the general 
body of teachers of Moslem law, having no very definite or- 
ganization in themselves and yet exerting as a mass a very 
powerful influence over the Empire. 

The Sheikh-ul Islam has comparatively little influence, 
except when there is a necessity for the interpretation of 
Moslem law in the conduct of the Government; then he be- 
comes an important member. The other members of the 
Sublime Porte conduct their departments in much the same 
way as in the other Governments. Two only require special 
mention: The Department of Public Instruction is most im- 
portant, including as it does the Board Censors, who have 
the right to pass upon the publication or importation of all 
literary matter, and can decree the suppression or confisca- 
tion of any newspaper or of any book which they think is 
derogatory to the interests of the Empire. The Department 
of Evkaf is peculiar to Turkish administration. It has to do 
with the care of the great amount of property vested in the 
mosques. Under Turkish law property which in other states 
would revert to the Government, reverts usually to the nearest 
mosque, and individuals as an act of piety frequently deed 
real estate or other property to the mosques, which thus have 
become immensely wealthy. This property may be purchased 
on condition of the payment of rent to the mosque or of an 
annuity to any persons specified in the deed by which the 
property is handed to the mosque. The income of this de- 
partment has been somewhat reduced of late years by the 
seizure of a considerable portion of it by the Government. 
Under this same department comes also the care of the gen- 
eral expenses for Mohammedan worship, such as the pil- 
grimages to Mecca, the public reading of the Koran, etc. . . 

In fact, however, there is another Government at the 
Palace of Yildiz, more powerful than the official Govern- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 1^7 

ment, made up of chamberlains, moollahs, eunuchs, astrolo- 
gers and nondescripts, and supported by the secret police, 
which spares no one from the Grand Vizier down. The gen- 
eral policy of the Empire is determined by this government 
and the most important questions of the state are often treated 
and decided, while the highest officials at the Porte are left 
in absolute ignorance of what is going on. It is needless to 
add that the Porte and the Palace are at sword's points, and 
block each other's movements as far as they can. . . . 

The Sultan evidently believes that he is equally inde- 
pendent of all these governments, and decides all questions, 
great and small, for himself. In form he does so, but no man 
can act independently of all his sources of information, and 
of personal influence of his entourage; under the present sys- 
tem he makes himself responsible for every blunder and every 
iniquity committed in the Empire, but he has disgraced three 
distinguished Grand Viziers for telling him so, and seems to 
have no idea of the causes of the intense dissatisfaction with 
his government which prevails among his Mohammedan sub- 
jects. The Turks as well as the Christians also condemn the 
laws restricting personal freedom, which have increased in 
severity every year. In many ways these laws are more gall- 
ing to the Turks than the Christians. 

For administrative purposes the Empire is divided into 
vilayets, these again into mutassarifiiks and kaimakamliks, 
and these again into mudirhks. The two highest grades are 
governed by Pashas appointed in Constantinople; the third 
grade or kaimakam receives his appointment ordinarily from 
Constantinople, but sometimes from the provincial superiors. 
The mudire are almost invariably local magistrates. 

Associated with each one of those officials is a council, 
or mejliss, including prominent Turks. Turks are the head 
authority; tender their advice when it is desired to the Gov- 
ernor, and consult in general in regard to the interests of the 
communities. 



l88 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

There is another evil connected with this system which 
may lead to serious difficulties with foreign powers. All 
foreign relations are supposed to be managed through the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Grand Vizier, but these 
officials have no power and but little influence; they can prom- 
ise nothing and do nothing; but in all delicate diplomatic 
questions it is essential to treat with responsible agents, and 
to discuss them with such agents in a way in which it is impos- 
sible to treat with the Sovereign himself. The present sys- 
tem has been a serious injury to Turkey. It has roused the 
hostility of all the embassies and led them to feel and report 
to their governments that there is no use in trying to do any- 
thing to save the Empire; that it is hopelessly corrupt, and 
the sooner it comes to an end the better for the world. There 
is no longer any concerted action of Europe at Constanti- 
nople for the improvement of the condition of the people. 

Over this whole administration presides the Sultan him- 
self. His word is supreme in each department, and he can 
and frequently does override the decisions of his ministers. 
More than almost any of his predecessors in the line of Otto- 
man Sultans, Abdul Hamid II. takes personal cognizance of 
the most minute details of his Government. The interests not 
only of his palace and his capital, but of the most remote 
provinces come under his eye. His industry is proverbial, and 
to his ability all who know him personally bear cordial wit- 
ness. He is however, by no means the absolute autocrat that 
he appears. He realizes very clearly his position between 
two contradictory and mutually repellant forces, the progress 
of the West and the conservatism of the East. If he an- 
tagonizes the former too much he runs the risk of losing his 
Empire; if he fails to keep in sympathy with the latter his 
Khaliphate is endangered. His position is one by no means 
to be envied, and no judgment of his can be just which does 
not take into account the peculiarities of that position. 

If Sultan Abdul Hamid would come out oi his palace, 
restore to the Porte its full responsibility, disband its secret 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I89 

police, trust his Mohammedan subjects and do simple justice 
to the Christian, his life would be far more secure than it is 
to-day, with all precautions. His people and all the world 
would recognize the great and noble qualities which they 
now ignore, and welcome him as the wisest and best of all 
the Sultans. 

The sad pity of it is that he will never do it. It is too late. 
The influence of the palace favorites is too strong. He will 
appear in history not as the Sultan who saved the Empire, but 
as the one who might have saved it and did not. 

I might mention a thousand similar cases, all of them 
traceable to this fatal spirit of the Koran. If such a despotic 
Empire, or such a book of the Koran, be in the hands of the 
Government, and if it should regard its subject races in the 
same light as the Koran regards non-Mohammedans, how 
can the populations living under it be reformed or improved 
from within? All of you will of course agree with me in say- 
ing that it is impossible. 

Now, this is the condition of the despotic Empire or Gov- 
ernment, these are the principal causes of the internal ruin of 
Turkey. 

III. The third cause of the horrors of the Armenians in 
Turkey: these are the products of the misrule and oppression 
of the Government. 

The rule of the Turkish Government is hopelessly and 
remedilessly bad wherever that rule extends. For example: 
The income of the Government is derived from customs, dues, 
tithes, levied on all agricultural produce; from the sale of certain 
articles, as salt, which are Government monopolies, and from 
imports on pretty nearly everything, and from the capitation 
and exemption taxes levied upon the Christian subjects. The 
tithes are generally framed out, and by the misrule this gives 
occasion for the greatest amount of oppression. There is 
no regular system of collection, and when the treasury runs 
low the Government sends out requisition to the interior 
provinces. The money is then collected in whatever way is 



1 90 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

feasible. There is no regularity in the payment of salaries. 
The Government is notoriously in arrears in regard to the 
payment of employees, being sometimes months, and even 
years, behind. 

The statement that a month's salary is to be paid be- 
comes a matter of comment in the public press and of general 
congratulation. The result is widespread corruption in all 
departments. The absence of salaries is made up for by the 
collection of fees; and every official from the lowest to the 
highest, through whose hands any money passes, is sure to 
keep as much of it as he thinks he can without incurring too 
severe wrath from his superior. 

Throughout a large section of the fairest part of the 
earth's surface business enterprise, intellectual progress, to 
say nothing of religious freedom have long been dead. In the 
fair lands which border on the Mediterranean, lands which 
should be the garden spots of the earth, there is and has been 
for many generations, poverty, wretchedness and squalor, 
which can hardly be credited in lands that are better governed. 

Naturally the character of the people has deteriorated, 
and a hopeless fatalism or cunning mendacity, which seeks 
to win by deceit what it cannot gain by fairer methods, have 
become characteristic of the people; in fact whether we 
consider the character of the people, the soil on which they 
live, the houses that cover them or the institutions by which 
they are misgoverned, we find that the trail of the Turk is 
over them all. 

The traveler through Palestine cannot but be impressed 
by these facts; still more he who takes the overland journey 
across Asia Minor, where the Turk has had more full and 
undisputed sway. 

He will find himself in a land of great natural resources, 
large possibilities; a land with a fertile soil, and exhaustless 
mines of precious metals; a land of rushing rivers and bold 
and rugged mountain scenery. When the Turk is deposed 
and some decent Government establishes its sway in Asia 



AND THE ARMENIANS. IQI 

Minor, we shall read of Cook's parties and Gaze's Tourists 
in the magnificent land of Taurus. The Cilician gates will 
be open to the traveler, though for many years they have been 
practically closed by the inefficient shiftlessness of a Govern- 
ment which taxes the people to death for roads which are 
never built, and bridges which are never constructed. Then 
the mines which, with their hidden treasures, have been sealed 
to all enterprise, will pour their wealth into the world's cof- 
fers. But now the Turk reasons with characteristic phlegm, 
that so long as the mines are undisturbed the wealth of the 
nation is intact, and he does not propose to allow outer bar- 
barians to come in and open up mines and cart ofif his treas- 
ures of gold and silver. This is carrying the stocking-leg 
theory of finance to its absurdest limits. To be sure the traveler 
finds one feeble, struggling little railway on the Mediterranean 
coast of Turkey, from Mersin to Adana, a distance of about 
forty miles. It was built by foreign capital, however, and is 
managed by foreign enterprise, and has been hampered and 
taxed almost ofif the face of the earth by the ruling. 

There is also a passable wagon road for Turkey for a few 
miles from Tarsus toward the Cilician gates, but this passable 
road soon runs into an almost impassable cart track. 
Though the camel path does not exactly run up a tree, it seems 
to loose itself when it gets to the most inaccessible portions 
of the Taurus Mountains, or at least is fit only for the sure- 
footed "ships of the desert" that continually traverse it with 
their swaying loads and their tinkling bells. The only bridges 
in many parts of the country are those built by the Romans, 
eighteen hundred years ago, so substantially and so scien- 
tifically that the war of the elements and the neglect of the Turk- 
ish Empire for twenty centuries has not been able to destroy 
them. It should be said that the road which starts from Tarsus 
comes to fight here and there during the hundreds of miles which 
lie between thebirthplace ofSt.Pauland the ancient city Angora, 
in old Galatea ; but it as often gets lost again or is obstructed 
and rendered impassable by falling trees and descending boul- 



192 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

ders which no one has energy enough to move out of the way. 
And yet this road is the excuse for wringing tens of thousands 
of pounds every year out of the poverty-stricken inhabitants. 
To be sure, the money is not expended upon the road, and 
every year it is falhng into a more utterly impassable condi- 
tion; but, no matter, it furnishes an excuse for yearly taxes 
and for more misrule or misgovernment. 

There are no hotels in that country, or inns even, of the 
humblest character, along this highway, which is the only 
artery between Constantinople and the same places of the 
Mediterranean ports; but there are stone huts called khans, 
in which men and bullocks and camels and asses may rest 
their wearied bodies in delightful promiscuity, while all are im- 
partially attacked by other occupants that are not recorded in 
the census, and are not registered upon the books even of a 
Turk. For much of the distance along this highway every 
tree and shrub and root has been plucked up to furnish a 
little scanty fuel for the shivering inhabitants. T'he broad 
stretches of tableland, naturally so fertile, are so poorly tilled 
with the rude implements of the past, that only a scanty popu- 
lation can be maintained, and these at "a poor, dying rate," 
where millions might thrive under a good government. 

The villages in the interior are for the most part built 
of sun-dried mud, though sometimes of stone, and are not 
clean and healthy. Very naturally, all enterprise and energy 
are killed out of such a people by hundreds of years of misrule 
and oppression. Why should a man strive to get on in the 
world, when he knows that he will only make himself, by his 
enterprise, the special prey of the oppressor? Why should 
he plant an orchard of superior fruit, when he knows that the 
tax-gatherer will get the best of it? Why should he try to 
improve his worldly condition in any way, when he knows that 
unless he can cover up his wealth and simulate poverty, he 
will but become the target for every corrupt and unscrupulous 
official? The land of Turkey has been picked bare; even 
the pin feathers of enterprise, if we may be excused the ex- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 193 

pression, have been singed off by a rapacious officialism dur- 
ing many generations. 

Undoubtedly the rule of the Turk is hopelessly and reme- 
dilessly bad wherever that rule extends. The mildew and 
blight of his occupation are found wherever the star and cres- 
cent wave. Just as truly as in the olden days, destruction 
and desolation were left in the wake of the victorious ''horse- 
tails" of the triumphant Sultans, so now desolation and de- 
struction are left in the retreating wake of the decadent and 
conquered Sultan. 

The history of six hundred years teaches us that it is of 
little use to talk about mending the reign of the Turk. There 
is nothing left but to end it. To mend it is out of the ques- 
ion. To end it is the only hope for Moslem and Christian 
alike, who dwell within the Sultan's domains. And now these 
centuries of atrocious misrule and almost inconceivable cor- 
ruption are crowned by the murder and the pillage and the 
wholesale massacres, which have caused the blood of civiliza- 
tion to run cold; outrages that will mark the years of 1895-96 
with such blots as no other years have known for many centu- 
ries. Yet the civilized world allows the Great Powers, each 
disarmed against the Turk by their mutual Jealousies, to look 
on supinely while the butchery in Armenia never ceases. 
Still the Queen's speech, read at the opening of Parliament 
in the year i8q6, talks gingerly about the Sultan's promises 
to institute reforms, while very likely, at the very moment 
when her speech was read, the Sultan's hirelings were mur- 
dering Christians, pillaging their property and firing their vil- 
lages. 

What will our grandchildren think of the boasted civiliza- 
tion of the nineteenth century? How will the people of the 
happier age which is to come look back with shuddering hor- 
ror, not only upon the deeds enacted in Turkey, but with 
scarcelv less horror, upon the Christian nations who by reason 
of their insane jealousy of one another, permitted those atroci- 
ties, which they might have prevented. 



194 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Alas, that this century should be known not only as the 
century of invention and discovery, of the railway and the 
steamship, and the telegraph and the telephone, the century 
of religious progress and missionary enterprise, the century 
of the Sunday School and the young people's movements, 
but also the century stained with the deepest dye of Chris- 
tian blood of which the great Christian powers can never wash 
their hands. 

"The oppressive character of the Government of the Turk- 
ish Empire, with respect to the subject race," is a very clear 
declaration on the part of the editor of the Independent of 
the situation in the country known as the Turkish Empire. It 
is a character that Is important; it is an actually existing Gov- 
ernment that counts, and the mischievous results of that Gov- 
ernment concern the civilized world to-day more in the rela- 
tion to the "subject race," than the general reformation of that 
misrule itself. 

The question is not so complicated as vast; not requiring 
so much skill in dealing with it as patient study to have a full 
comprehension of the main factors entering into it as potent 
influences. 

As in a medical examination, so in this, euphony of dic- 
tion is to be sacrificed to truth; and first, the "Government of 
the Turkish Empire," as it is to-day and has been for 500 
years, is only Mohammedan domination with regard to the 
non-Mohammedan population of the country. Secondly, the 
"subject races" are only slave population and prisoners of 
war; and, thirdly, the essential character of that domination 
over those races has been a thorough and absolute system 
of oppression. In entering upon remarks regarding the char- 
acter of that oppression, it might be necessary to point to the 
proofs of the above statements regarding the Government 
itself and the status of the "subject races." For that part, it 
is quite sufificient to point to the whole history of'the Turkish 
Government through every step of its settled existence dur- 
ing 500 years. Not very keen insight is necessary, either, but 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I95 

only deliberate study and simple impartial judgment, to con- 
vince any intelligent mind of the justice of the charges. 

The character of the oppression of the Turkish Govern- 
ment must be tried by the one test which stands higher than all 
theory and even logical inferences ; by that test which has the 
stamp of the highest authority and comes with the power of a 
prima facie evidence that compels conviction. "By their fruits 
ye shall know them." The timber of the oak is what tells, 
and we care not so much for the foliage or the acorn. The 
flower of the rosebush is enough to satisfy us regarding the 
result of the gardener's work : but from the orchard we expect 
fruit, and by its fruit we judge of the value of the husband- 
man's labor and of wisdom of his management. A Govern- 
ment is not for exhibition. It Is not merely to make history. 
Before the judgment of God and man It is to stand and be 
judged by the fruit of its influences upon human life; its hap- 
piness, its comfort, its development — moral, physical and in- 
tellectual, judged by that standard. 

I. The Government of the Turkish Empire, in Its rela- 
tion to the "subject races," is found to be radically and es- 
sentially oppressive. The Turkish Government is based upon 
the Mohammedan religion, the component elements of which 
are the sword and the Koran. While for half a century Eu- 
ropean diplomats have been deceiving themselves and the 
civilized world that the Koran could cease to be the law that 
regulated the movements of the sword, the events of the past 
year and a half have proved that the history of the Turkish 
Government has long ago demonstrated that the sword and 
the Koran are united so that nothing but the death of one 
or the other can put them asunder. If the Government of the 
Turkish Empire could be induced to recognize and permit 
the development of an "Ottoman Empire," after the type of 
civilized governments, where the equality of all citizens before 
the law is the basic principle, oppression in the Government 
might be treated as a disease; but as the Turkish Empire has 
always been, and Is to-day a "Mohammedan Empire," oppres- 



196 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

sion of the Christian and the "infidel" in it is a constitutional 
quality. 

For those who have at heart, not only the fate of the Chris- 
tian races in Turkey, but also the interests of civilization and 
Christendom at large, this must stand as the most important 
element in the case, namely, that the Government of the Turk- 
ish Empire, when true to itself, and standing upon the ground 
of its highest efficiency, is by nature destructive of those forces 
which make for righteousness in this world, and are the foun- 
dation of that which is counted by the Aryan races as the 
highest civilization. 

All the other characteristics are the outcome of this one 
essential fact, and will be influenced by the remedy brought 
to bear upon this root of the evil itself. 

2. Turkish oppression is universal; it oppresses the 
"subject races," in all places and in all their relations. The 
unalterable disabilities deny them justice in the courts, as- 
suring immunity to the robber and the highwayman and the 
swindler, if he is only a Mohammedan. Tlie prosperity of the 
Christian races, merchant and artisan, dependent upon justice 
and protection, is thus reduced to a deplorable minimum; 
poverty Is the highway open before every Christian commu- 
nity; but as taxation, unremitting, unlimited, and merciless, 
is also the law of the land, the instinct of self-preservation 
drives them on to labor incessantly in order to remedy the 
evil as far as possible. In spite of the fertile soil and abundant 
natural resources, therefore, the "subject races" of the Turk- 
ish Empire are under the heel of a grinding oppression. 

After centuries of honest, toilsome life, in sight of the 
golden dawn of the world's greatest century, and with the 
thunder of the chariot wheels of modern progress in their 
ears, the Christian "subjects" of the Sultan are there to-day 
without railroads or even highways, without any "improve- 
ments," ancient or modern, in science or art, agriculture or 
sanitation, with no police, and no fire alarms, no water works, 
and no house lighting or street lighting system, and as the 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I97 

shadows of evening" descend, the entire land from east to 
west or Mt. Ararat to the Adriatic sinks into fitful slumber, 
under the black wings of a night of terror and insecurity that 
best enables weary souls to comprehend the felicity of a here- 
after when ''there shall be no night there." 

The universality of the oppression is also assured by the 
fact that the Mohammedan of all conditions, however ignor- 
ant or dull in other respects, is remarkably well versed in this 
one doctrine, that he is lord and master, while the Christian is 
the slave; how he is to be reminded of his subordinate condi- 
tion with every opportunity. An intelligent residence, of any 
length of time in Turkey, would convince one of this almost 
astounding fact. The Governor or the Pasha, as true Moslems, 
have never had scruples in denying justice to the Christian, 
in receiving bribes from defendant and plaintifif alike, in ex- 
tending- their protection to the murderers of men and the 
ravishers of women; but the barbarous Kurds on the moun- 
tains, as well as the beggar women in the streets of Constan- 
tinople, are just as conscious of their privilege in this direc- 
tion as the watchful guardians of Turkish law in high places. 
On the hills of the Golden Horn, above Balat, on a sunny 
afternoon, a Protestant minister was out walking- with a little 
girl and her brother. The girl was dressed after the fashion 
of Europeans, and to guard her eyes from the bright sun- 
light a green veil covered her face. There were Turkish vil- 
lages around, and a group of Turkish women were passing 
by. Suddenly one of them sprang toward the little girl and 
snatched the veil from her head and tore it into shreds with 
ominous mutterings and imprecations. The veil was green, 
the sacred color of the Mohammedan religion, to be worn 
only by the highest clergy. How could the child of the ac- 
cursed "Giaour" dare to go about under its shadow. Years 
afterward, far away on the jagged heights of Montenegro, a 
bridal party of Christians were attacked, as reported by the 
British consul, by a band of Turkish ruffians. They cut the 
bride into pieces, half killed the bridegroom, raised a funeral 



198 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

pyre, and burned the dead and dying under the rays of the 
setting sun. The bride had worn a green velvet jacket. Away 
on the mountains of Armenia the Kurdish chief, Genjo, upon 
the recovery of his son from a fatal malady, went out to seek 
a thank offering to the God of heaven, and the sacrifice he 
decided upon was the lives of seven Christian priests. Up and 
down through the length and breadth of the Turkish Em- 
pire, at the hands of millions of Mohammedans, universal op- 
pression in every conceivable shape has been the law for the 
"subject races" of the Turkish Empire. 

3. The oppression of the Turk is cumulative. Poverty 
and ignorance bring degradation, and degradation hardens 
human nature, cruelty becomes an instrument, and lust is 
there as the impelling power. Slowly, steadily, from village 
to city, from the cities to the capital of the Empire, the great 
tidal waves of cruel oppression have brought devastation 
through the centuries, and once and again the return current 
has dashed itself against the highlands of Armenia, as well 
as the habitations of other Christian races, and opened before 
the eyes of Christendom ghastly pictures of blood and de- 
struction that to the mind of the uninitiated have appeared as 
accidental developments. The forces of this evil are there al- 
ways, and are constantly accumulating their momentum. It 
is a farce to speak of inability to control fanaticism on the part 
of the Government or the Sultans of Turkey. It were just 
as reasonable to speak of the helplessness of the man to avert 
disaster who loosens a mighty boulder from the mountain 
heights above his village, or finds the entertainment of a sum- 
mer day by carving a channel in the dam above the city. Sure 
enough, the ignorance of the Mohammedan disqualifies him 
from understanding the science of the correlation of forces in 
the Kingdom of the devil, but of their nature he is not ig- 
norant, and glories in his liberty to set them moving in the 
midst of the Christian population of the Empire. 

4. And, hence the greatest evil of the Turkish oppres- 
sion is its far-reaching character. We must admit that there 



AND THE ARMENIANS. I99 

are degrees of sin and evil ; that there is a sin against the spirit 
which far outweighs many transgressions. The oppression 
of the Mohammedan Governmxent by its universal, cumulative 
weight has crushed and is now crushing out those spiritual 
qualities which make the fiber of true human souls. No one 
who believes in the soul of man and its undying worth could 
fail to be appalled at the sight of the havoc that has been 
wrought upon the manhood of the people inhabiting Turkey 
in consequence of Mohammedan oppression. Degeneration 
and degradation lose their significance here. It is spiritual 
contagion; it is intellectual rottenness. From early childhood 
thousands of the Christian subjects of the Turkish Govern- 
ment, directly or indirectly in its employ, are led to seek pro- 
motion by qualifying to serve men whose business is theft and 
corruption. A Pasha or Governor in the interior seeks an ac- 
countant or a treasurer, not to render accurate accounts to 
the Minister of Finance, but to devise ways and means by 
which both the imperial treasury and the population of the 
district can be robbed in a manner that will be the least open 
to detection and the most profitable for the private treasury 
of the Pasha or the Governor himself. Thousands of the 
Christian youths of the land, naturally the most intelligent and 
capable among them, have been for centuries trained in a 
school of corruption and villainy, to oppress their own coun- 
trymen, as the servile tools of the corrupt officials of the Gov- 
ernment. The most approved methods of fraud and bribery, 
of smuggling and wholesale deceit have, therefore, been at 
a high premium in the land known as the Turkish Empire, 
from the morning that the crescent waved over the walls of the 
city of Constantine. A lie is disreputable if it fails to deceive. 
It has the double reward of both remuneration and promotion 
to higher service if it prevails. How blessed the Christian 
under-secretaries of the Turkish Foreign Office, when they 
return with the trophies of the intellectual scalps of the astute 
diplomats whom Europe sends to Constantinople to fish for 
facts in the awful maelstrom of falsehoods of Turk- 



200 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

ish diplomacy. It is a matter of surprise, indeed, that 
there are men in high places of the Christian West who have 
fallen into the habit of measm-ing the hideous injustice and 
oppression of all the Christian races in Turkey, only in a 
balance where houses, farms and bodies of men and women 
can be weighed. We have been asked: "Oh, the condition of 
the Christian in Turkey is surely not intolerable, except for 
these occasional massacres, which European diplomacy ought 
to prevent." And the answer is: "No, the disasters of fire and 
sword are nothing compared to the frightful havoc of the 
souls of men that has been brought with an iron hand and 
a persistent, unrelenting conpulsion upon the Christian races 
in Turkey." Turkish Government, which is mainly nothing 
but a colossal avalanche of corruption and sensuality, over- 
whelming the people of Turkey, cannot be justly qualified 
by any definition that falls short of signifying an absolutely 
unmitigated curse. I am reminded here of the sterling words 
of the golden-tongued prophet, the noble Gladstone, who 
stands towering above British mediocrity in these dark days 
of ours: "This is strong language, gentlemen, but language 
must be strong where the facts are strong." We are told that 
the condition of the Christians in Turkey might be worse; 
they might have been exterminated. It surely is in order to 
ask here, Where is the justice of it, when there is help for 
it? What right has Europe to attend to the balance of power 
that is kept at the right level by piling high in the pan of the 
scale, souls of men, both of Turk and Christian, laid low with 
the contagion of corruption and the rottenness of all iniquity 
combined, in order that they may serve as dead-weights? And 
the iniquity of this condition and the awful responsibility at 
the door of those who are responsible for it is enhanced by 
the fact that the Christian "subject races" under the Govern- 
ment of the Turkish Empire have been striving and strug- 
gling through all these years of subjection for a higher man- 
hood, nourished by the abundance of good works, and es- 
pecially at the touch of Western civilization, have been aspir- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 20I 

ing for their highest possibiHties, as individual men and as 
nations. 

This quaUfication of the oppression of the Turkish Gov- 
ernment is especially justifiable and unavoidable because 

5. An essential factor in the character of the oppression 
of the Turkish Government is its hopelessness. Some one 
wrote upon a prison wall the gamut of national degeneration. 
It went down from wealth and pride to war and poverty, and 
then started on a return tide of industry and prosperity back 
over the same path. If there is any correctness in this itin- 
erary, it must have counted upon rapid transit not to give time 
for pride and poverty to leave an impression upon the soul of 
the nation. 

The universal accumulation and all-pervading flood of 
Turkish oppression has torn up and borne down with it every 
single anchorage and mooring of virtue and manhood for the 
ship of state, so that no returning tide is ever possible for it. 
Action and reaction, with increasing rapidity, even through 
the past fifty years, have brought disastrous loss in all direc- 
tions; so that Turkey has to-day less money, less manhood, 
less wisdom, less patriotism and confidence in itself. Only 
one power rises in the midst of universal degeneration, and 
that is the rampant spirit, desperate and malignant oppression. 

In the midst of the colossal calamity of tens of thousands 
of innocent people murdered in cold blood, villages and cities 
laid in ashes, and hundreds and thousands of men, women and 
children on the verge of starvation and death from exposure 
to the cold blasts of a highland winter, civilized nations of 
the world stand appalled and appear to consider the difficulty 
of the situation as unsurmountable. But it is not so. First, 
there is the hope, if hope it may be called, in the principle that 
evil destroys itself, while the good rises strong with the power 
of self-propagation with every morning's sun. 

The Turk is destroying himself. His government of 
oppression is as great a curse to himself as to the Christian; 
and Europe, in permitting and well-nigh supporting that op- 



202 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

pression, has been as great a criminal against the Turk as 
against the Christian. What is wanted, therefore, for the 
Christian ''subject races" in Turkey, languishing under the 
cruel yoke of this murderous oppression, is protection. If the 
Christian Governments of Europe are unwilling as yet to 
separate the sword and the Koran, they are surely in honor 
bound to extend the protection they so easily can extend to 
the Christian population in the Turkish Empire, and prac- 
tically isolate the Mohammedan with his sword and his Koran. 
That is the efficient remedy of the situation, and one which, 
in the name of justice and humanity, honor and civilization, 
all believers in human rights can demand at the hands of those 
who have the power to apply it. Pure air and good soil are 
the best disinfectants. Before the swelHng tide of Christian 
civilization, with its bracing atmosphere of justice and liberty, 
and the healthful soil of industry and continued well doing, 
the Mohammedan will be driven away as the floating clouds 
and the pestilential miasma are blown away before the breath 
of the mighty north wind, and nature blossoms into full life 
in the warm light of heaven. 

IV. The fourth cause of the horrors to the Armenians 
of Turkey is the come-out through the present Sultan, or is 
produced with the hands of Sultan Hamid 11. 

The Mohammedan population in Turkey every year is 
decreasing. When the present Sultan captured the throne 
from his brother, Sultan Murad, the Turkish Government had 
40,000,000 people; as soon as he girded the sword of Osman, 
he began the great battle with Russia, and after the Turko- 
Russian war he found himself with 18,000,000. Who are the 
losers. Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, Bosnia, 
Herzegovina, a part of Macedonia, Cyprus and a part of Ar- 
menia — practically the whole of Europe was lost for Turkey, 
except Constantinople and the district Edirne or Adrianople. 

Turkey is not an Empire any more, but it is a little King- 
dom; rather a little feudal system, or, more accurately still, a 
little anarchy. If it were not for mutual European jealousy, 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 203 

the Sultan could not keep his anarchism. Yet many still 
think that the Ottoman Empire is a great one, a powerful Gov- 
ernment. They look at the Sultan and his dominion through 
a magnifying glass. This shows ignorance. The Turks are 
decayed and are decaying. The sick man of Turkey is the 
dead man of Turkey, and ought to be buried; but the European 
powers do not bury him because there are precious stones and 
jewelry in the cofhn; no matter how bad the corpse smells, they 
will endure it. 

And the bad smell of the Sultan is killing hundreds of 
thousands of Christians; but the dead stays where it is, and 
may stay for some years; but the end will come before many 
have gone by. When I say that the days of the Sultan are 
numbered, and the brutal Turkish misrule will cease, many 
Armenians will rejoin ''that the same has often been said long 
years since, though the Empire remains to-day, and seems 
likely to remain." The fact is, however, that during my or 
your own life more than half of it has gone to pieces, and the 
fragment which remains will go to pieces soon. Permit me to 
say that all former prophecies have been mistaken because 
those who made them have judged and misjudged the 
situation from an occidental standpoint; I judge it from 
that of a native. Who knows the realities as only a 
native can? What can an English ambassador or an Ameri- 
can minister in Constantinople, staying perhaps two or three 
years, and entertained and decorated by the crafty Sultan, 
know about the internal state of Turkey? Having traveled 
through the country, lived and preached for years at a time, 
preached in different cities, including Constantinople, I can 
see signs of a break-up that a foreigner would not notice. 

The reason the Turkish population does not increase is 
this: The army has to be made up of Mohammedans, partly 
because the Sultan does not put arms into the hands of 
Christians, for obvious reasons, since they have no motive 
to uphold and eveiy motive to fight him, and partly because 
to be a soldier in Turkey is a holy service, the privilege of 



204 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Mohammedans alone. As there is a large standing army, 
nearly all the Mohammedan youths have to become soldiers. 
Their service begins when they are about twenty years old. 
The shortest term is five years; for many it is ten; and even 
after that there are many who cannot escape. If a young 
Mohammedan is not married at twenty, obviously he cannot 
marry until twenty-five anyway, and perhaps thirty — very late 
for a country population. If he is married, his wife is virtu- 
ally a widow for from five to ten years. Now the reader can 
see my drift. With marriages so late, and husbands so long 
absent, Turkish famiHes are small. They do not make good 
the deaths. And there is a stih plainer cause: The soldiers 
being very poorly fed, and constant fighting going on, ninety 
per cent, die in the army, and so never have any families; the 
flower of the nation perishes barren. Those who survive and 
return are pale and sick, good for nothing, a burden to their 
families and to the nation. The Armenians have to support 
the Sultan's army, since they do not furnish it; but they rear 
families and are drowning out the Turk. 

Another cause of decrease is the pilgrimage to Mecca, 
where Mohammed was born: On an everage, five hundred 
thousand pilgrims go there every year — of course not all from 
Turkey, but most of them — and every year about 50,000 or 
100,000 of them die of cholera or some other disease before 
reaching home, from drinking the water of the Holy Well 
(Zemzorm Sooji), which is full of unholy foulness. Even 
those who live and return home take that water to their fami- 
lies, and many of the latter die too. Cholera is perpetual in 
Turkey, and it originates at Mecca. When I was in Adana, 
600 at one time went on the pilgrimage, and only 50 of them 
returned to their home. It is a great virtue to die where Mo- 
hammed was born, or to drink that water and die, and they 
are going to him at a rapid rate. Just last year, when the 
English and Russian and French consuls at Jiddah, the sea- 
port of Mecca, established a quarantine to detain those com- 
ing from Mecca, and bringing cholera, they were murdered by 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 205 

the Mohammedan Arabs, who said they were interfering with 
the sacred rehgion, and the SuUan had to pay the indemnity. 

Another cause of decrease is the polygamy. People natu- 
rally think that marrying more than one wife should increase 
the number of children; but the facts emphatically prove the 
reverse. The polygamous Turks do not increase as fast as 
the Christians who have but one wife. 

Hence the Mohammedans are fast decreasing in Turkey, 
and the Sultan is terrified, and hopes by killing a large part of 
the Christians and forcing the survivors to accept Moham^- 
medanism, that their power of multiplication may be the boon 
of a Mohammedan people. Out of the 18,000,000 inhabitants 
of Turkey, 6,000,000 are native Christians, about 1,500,000 
of them Armenians. This leaves only 12,000,000 for the whole 
Mohammedan population in the present Turkish dominion. 
The internal ruin of Turkey is made by massacres and forced 
conversions. That the Sultan has been planning this massacre 
ever since the Turko-Russian war is evidenced by the fact 
that after the war he encouraged or ordered a number of Mo- 
hammedan tribes — Circassians, Georgians, Kurds and Lazes 
— to emigrate from Russia to Armenia, confiscated masses of 
Christian property, and gave it to them, and directed them to 
reduce the number of Armenian Christians by any way they 
saw fit, giving them full license to do what they would with 
Armenians, without penalty. You know what that means 
with fierce tribes of human wild animals, cruel and foul, and 
he knew what it meant too, and intended it to mean that. 
Before his time the Christians far outnumbered the Moham- 
medans in Armenia proper; but under his "government'' — his 
deliberate policy of extermination — great numbers fled the 
country, numbers were killed and their women made concu- 
bines to Mohammedans, and now the Mohammedans are more 
numerous in Armenia than the Armenian Christians. And if 
the Sultan is permitted to go on, he will kiU a million more; 
the rest will be ''converted." And then he will call the atten- 
tion of European powers to this fact and say: "See here, 



2o6 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

you ask me to reform Armenia; Armenia is reformed. There 
is no Armenia; the people in that part of my Empire are all 
Mohammedans, and they are satisfied with my government. 
What do you want from me? What right have you to interfere 
with my country and religion?" That is the plan of the 
Sultan; but that is bad fortune for him; and still it is the real 
cause of the eternal ruin of Turkey. Because through his plan 
he has lost nearly 100,000 of noble Armenian people, and at 
the present time more than 500,000 of Armenian people 
have need only of bread. They have nothing in hand. And 
at the same time the Sultan has destroyed and burned many 
thousands of houses and shops and farms. And now he can 
not get the principal taxes which the Armenians pay to the 
government, because they have nothing. They are not able 
to pay the poll tax, $2 per head, including the new-born male 
baby, and tax on real estate, and land tax, and house tax, 
namely, 50 piasters on 1,000 of the value of the house; and 
Khamtchoori, namely, 5 piasters or 20 cents per head of sheep 
— one-eighth of the value of the sheep; and tithe of agricul- 
tural products. So that the Turkish Government has to-day 
less money, less manhood, less wisdom, less power, less 
patriotism and less confidence in itself, and has ruined itself. 

V. The fifth cause of the horrors of the Armenians: It 
has come out with the Eastern question ; or I say that it is the 
product of the Treaty of Berlin. 

It is quite needless to remark that Turkey, instead of do- 
ing anything to improve the condition of the Armenians, has 
done much to make it worse during the past fifteen years. 
The question now arises. What have the powers signatory to 
the Berlin Treaty done to compel the Sublime Porte ''to carry 
out the improvements and reforms" demanded in the sixty- 
first Article? And what steps has Great Britain taken in ad- 
dition to discharge the additional obligation for the improve- 
ment of Armenia which she assumed by the so-called Cyprus 
Convention? 

We find that in November, 1879, the English Govern- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 207 

ment seeing that matters throughout Asia Minor were really 
^oing from bad to worse, went the length of ordermg an Eng- 
fish squadron to the Archipelago for the purpose of a naval 
demonstration. The Turkish Government was greatly ex- 
cited, and with a view to getting the order countermanded, 
made the fairest promises. 

But England was not the only power aroused. On June 
II 1880 an Identical Vote of the Great Powers demanded the 
execution of the clauses of the Treaty of Berlin which had re- 
mained in suspense. On the conclusion of the Identical Vote 
a clear recognition is made of the fact that the mterest of 
Europe as well as that of the Ottoman Empire, reqmres the 
execution of the sixty-first Article of the Treaty of Berlm, and 
that the joint and incessant action of the Powers can alone 
bring about this result. 

On July 5th the Turkish Foreign Minister sent a note 
in reply to the representatives of the Powers. "It is of great 
length and small real value, except as combining in a remark- 
able degree the distinguishing characteristics of modern Ot- 
toman diplomacy, namely: First, great facility in assimilat- 
ing the administrative and constitutional jargon of civihzed 
countries; second, consummate cunning in concealing under 
deceptive appearances the barbarous reality of deeds and in- 
tentions; third, cool audacity in making promises which there 
is neither the power nor desire to make good; and finally, a 
paternal and oily tone, intended to create the impression that 
the Turkish Government is the victim of unjust prejudices and 
odious calumnies." 

As soon as the reply of the Porte was received. Earl 
Granville sent copies to the British consuls in Asia Minor, 
inviting observation thereon. Eight detailed replies to this 
request are published in the Blue Book. They concur In a 
crushing condemnation of the Ottoman Government. 

These conclusions, moderately and very diffusely ex- 
pressed In diplomatic phraseology, are reflected in the col- 
lective Note which was sent on September 11, 1880, to the 



208 IJ.LUSTR/xTED ARMENIA 

Sublime Porte by the ambassadors of the Great Powers. On 
October 3d, without making the shghtest references to cen- 
sures which had been addressed to it, and even appearing 
completely to ignore the collective Note, the Porte, assum- 
ing a haughty tone, merely notified the Powers of what it 
intended to do. 

In a circular of the 12th of January, 1881, Earl Gran- 
ville tried again to induce the other five powers to join in 
further representations to the Sublime Porte on the subject. 
But the other powers seem to have thought that the diplo- 
matic comedy had gone far enough, and sent evasive answers. 
Prince Bismarck expressed the opinion that there would be 
"serious inconvenience" in raising the Armenian question, 
and France hid behind Germany. Such action by the Powers 
had been anticipated by the British ambassador at Constan- 
tinople, Mr. Goschen, who had already written to Earl Gran- 
ville. "If they (the Powers) refuse, or give only lukewarm sup- 
port, the responsibility will not lie with Her Majesty's Gov- 
ernment." The whole correspondence was simply a matter 
of form. I have condensed this outline of events since the 
Treaty of Berlin from Armenia, the Armenians, and the 
Treaties, following as far as possible the words of the writer, 
M. G. Rohlin-Jacquemyns, a high authority on International 
Law. From 1881 to the present time, almost without excep- 
tion, England, on her part, has allowed no mention in her 
Blue Books of the manner in which her proteges and those 
of Europe have been treated. Her energies have seemed to 
be devoted to stifling the ever-increasing cry of despair from 
Armenia, instead of attempting her rescue or relief. The 
other powers are only less guilty in proportion as they have 
done less to perpetuate Ottoman misrule, and have made less 
pretence of sympathy and help for the oppressed. Freeman 
says of England: "By waging a war on behalf of the Turk; 
by signing a treaty which left the nations of southeastern Eu- 
rope (and Asia Minor) at the mercy of the Turk; by propping 
up the wicked power of the Turk in many ways, we have done 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 209 

a ereat wrong to the nations which are under his yoke; and 
that wrong which we have ourselves done it is our duty to 

It is thus clearly seen that both the sixty-first Article of 
the Berlin Treaty, and the Cyprus Convention as well, have 
been of positively no value in securing for the Armenians^ any 
of the reforms which were therein recognized as imperatively 
called for and guaranteed. It is also clear that the condition 
of Armenia, and of Turkey as a whole, is even vastly worse 
and more hopeless than it was twenty years ago. 

This condition I further maintain is in large measure di- 
rectly attributable to those treaties themselves and to the atti- 
tude subsequently assumed by the Powers which signed them. 
It is said that the Armenians have brought trouble on them- 
selves bv stirring up the Turks. T ask what stirred the Arme- 
nians up? It was primarily the sixty-first Article of the Treaty 
of Berlin Manv a time has that precious paragraph been 
quoted to me in the wilds of Kurdistan by common Armenian 
artisans and ignorant villagers. They had welcomed it as a 
second evangel, and believed the word of England as they did 

the Gospel. 

It was that Article which roused them from the torpor of 
centuries. There is another sequel to the BerHn Treaty and 
to the attitude of the Powers, namely: Its effect on the 
Turks themselves. The natural enmity and contempt of the 
Moslem rulers and population generally for the Christian sub- 
jects has been greatly increased by reason of the pressure 
which foreign powers have occasionally brought to bear on 
the Turks in order to procure relief for the Christian. To be 
sure, the onlv hope of such relief is from without. But the 
pressure should not be of a petty, nagging and galling nature. 
This is worse than nothing. What is needed is prompt, de- 
cisive and final action. 

A recent writer wisely says that the Armenian question, 
if it ever be settled at all, must be taken out of the Turks^ 
hands, whether he like it or not. ... And we have an 



2IO ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Opportunity now, which may never come our way again, of 
settUng a difficuUy which if allowed to develop much longer, 
will prove more fruitful of mischief than any with which we 
have been confronted for a generation or more. Really it is 
the natural outcome of the horrible situation in Armenia since 
the Treaty of BerHn, and the disease is bound to grow more 
virulent and contagious until the European doctors apply vig- 
orous and radical treatment to the "sick man." It is difficult 
to see how anything but a surgical operation can be helpful. 
The knife has frequently been used in the case of this incur- 
able patient during the present century, and always with ex- 
cellent results, as for instance in the case of Greece, Lebanon, 
Bulgaria, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Egypt. A situation in 
many respects parallel to that in Armenia existed until lately 
in Bosnia and Herzegovina. But the European powers never 
do that, though at the Treaty of Berlin they destroyed the 
nation of Armenia, and also the population of Turkey. 

VI. The sixth cause of the horrors to the Armenians of 
Turkey. The Mohammedan population in Turkey decreased 
while the Christian Increased. When the Sultan Abdool Ha- 
mid II. was enthroned Turkey had 40,000,000 population; as 
soon as he girded the sword of Osman, he began the battle 
with Russia; after the Turko-Russian war he found himself 
with 18,000,000, Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, 
Bosnia, Herzegovina, a part of Macedonia, Cyprus and a part 
of Armenia. Practically the whole European part of Turkey 
except Constantinople and the district Edirna or Adrianople 
left. 

Turkey Is not an empire any more, but she is a small king- 
dom, rather a little feudal system or more accurately still a lit- 
tle Anarchy., 

If it was not for mutual European jealousy the Sultan 
could not keep his anarchism. Yet many think that the Otto- 
man Empire Is a great one and powerful government. 

They look at the Sultan and his dominion through a 
magnifying glass, which shows their ignorance. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 211 

The Turks were decayed, are decaying yet. Hence the 
Mohammedans are fast decreasing in Turkey and the Sultan 
is terrified but hopes by kilHng a large part of the Christians, 
he forces the survivors to accept his religion, that their power 
of multiplication may be the boon of a Mohammedan people. 

Out of the 18,000,000 inhabitants of Turkey, 6,000,000 are 
native Christians, half of them are or rather were Armenians; 
which leaves only 12,000,000 Mohammedan population in the 
present Turkish dominions and she grows less, while the Chris- 
tians grow more. 

The Sultan, a few years ago, made the obtaining of a 
marriage certificate compulsory for Armenians, in order to 
decrease them, but the Turkish authorities found out that it 
would be almost impossible to notify them according to the 
order of their Sultan, because it would cost a great deal to es- 
tablish the order; on the other hand, since many years there 
have been no marriages in Armenia. The authorities will not 
give certificates on any terms and prevent any more Chris- 
tians being born. The daughters and young brides of the 
murdered thousands are made mothers, violated by the Turks 
and Kurds. 

The Christians have been increasing, not only from within 
but from without, too. Europeans have begun to go where- 
ever railroads go, hence another reason for massacre and 
forced conversion comes out by that way. 

The Sultan has been planning this massacre ever since 
the Turko-Russian war is evidenced by the fact that after the 
war he encouraged' or ordered a number of Mohammedan 
tribes — Circassians, Georgians, Kurds and Lazes — to immi- 
grate from Russia to Armenia, confiscated masses of Chris- 
tians' property and gave it to them ; directed them to reduce the 
number of Armenian Christians by any way they could, at the 
revolt they should not be punished. 

You know what it means with fierce tribes of human wild 
animals, cruel and fraud; he knew what it meant too and in- 
tended it to mean that. Before his time the Christians far 



212 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

outnumbered the Mohammedans in Armenia proper, but un- 
der his government his dehberate poHcy of extermination, 
great numbers of them fled from the country. Many of them 
were killed and their women made concubines to Mohamme- 
dans, for this reason they killed those who were between the 
ages of 15 and 50. Now the Mohammedans are more numer- 
ous in Armenia than the x\rmenians; if the Sultan is permitted 
to go on he will kill a million more; the rest will be "con- 
verted," and then he will call the attention of the powers to 
this fact, and say: "See here, you ask me to reform Armenia, 
there are no more Armenians here, because the people in that 
part of my empire are all Mohammedans and they are satis- 
fied with my government. 

"What do you want of me anyway? What right have 
you to interfere with my country and religion?" that is his 
proper plan. 

When the Berlin congress was held the Armenians were 
the majority in his dominions; the congress decided on reform 
for it so that Sultan accepted. But he gave with the full in- 
tention of depopulating and converting it, and then telling the 
powers there was no need of reform there. He was doing 
this a few years ago incessantly, and as remorselessly as a. fiend. 
Therefore you can understand the cause of the oppression and 
the persecutions in Turkey. 

VII. The seventh cause of the horrors to the Armenians 
of Turkey. The Christian people are going to be rich and 
educated, but Mohammedans generally are poor and ignor- 
ant. 

The Turks have never cared for money or education. 
They have always said, "Let the Christians make the money, 
and we will take it from them whenever we choose. We will 
be the rulers, the soldiers, the police; we will have the sword 
in our hands. Then their property and their women too will 
be ours at will, and we can force them to become Mohamme- 
dans." Such being their reasoning, they took good of their 
swords and their guns, which were furnished to them from 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 213 

Europe and the United States. The Christian peoples be- 
Heving that the great Christian powers would never permit 
the Turks to wreak their murderous and shameful will on them, 
did not risk the vengeance of the Turks by secretly buying 
weapons, nor train themselves in the use of arms. They 
trained their minds, got education, traveled in Europe and 
this United States, enlightened themselves in every way they 
could. They sharpened their intellects rather than their 
swords. They learned to make money also; they established 
all the business houses in Turkey, all the Turks that get em- 
ployment in the cities get it from the Christian merchants. 
As far as Turkey has any finances, they are in the hands of 
Christians. Go where you will in Turkey, seaboard or interior, 
all the money and education belong to the Christians. Poverty 
and ignorance are the portion of the Turks. Ninety per cent 
of the Christians know how to read and write, while ninety 
per cent of the Turks do not. Sixty per cent of the Moham- 
medan property has been sold to the Christian peoples within 
twenty years. When I was in Turkey during the last twenty 
years, the Mohammedans were always selling and the Chris- 
tians always buying. One day a Turk was going to sell his 
field to a Christian, and they went to the government office 
to make the transfer. The officer in charge said he could not 
transfer the property of a Mohammedan to a Christian. This 
was something new. ''Why is that?" they asked. ''The gov- 
ernor forbids it,"' said the officer. "He told him that hereafter 
it should not be done.'' Finally both went to the governor 
and asked him why he forbade it. The governor replied: 
"Of late the Christians have bought up the fields of the Mo- 
hammedans, till they own the greater part of them; if we let 
them go on they will own everything and the Mohammedans 
will be left without property. Therefore I forbid it. No Mo- 
hammedan shall hereafter sell any property to a Christian." 
He told the Turk he might sell his field to another Mohamme- 
dan, but not to a Christian. "All right," said the Turk, "I 
will sell it to you then at the same price, or may be a little 



214 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

less. Will you buy it? because I need the money to support 
my family." ''I cannot buy it," said the governor. "I have 
no money." "I know that," replied the Turk, ''and not only 
you, but all the other Mohammedans have no money either; 
they are all poor. I cannot find any Turk who has the money 
to buy my field, and I need money and I have to sell it to that 
Christian." Finally the governor was forced to give permis- 
sion and the Christian bought the field. This is only one case, 
but it is typical. There are thousands of just such, and this 
is another cause which aroused -the jealousy of the Sultan and 
his subordinates to order the massacre of the Christians and 
the seizure of their property. The Sultan is just the same. 
He is outwardly very pleasant, very gentlemanly, very hu- 
mane. He will promise almost anything, but he will do noth- 
ing, and he calls his enraptured guests dogs and hogs behind 
their backs. Who knows how many times he has called Lord 
Salisbury, the German Emperor, or Russian Czar, who are 
helping him to kill the Christian or Armenians, heathen dogs? 
See the promises of the Sultan in 1878, in the Berlin Treaty, 
Article 61 : — "The Sublime Porte undertakes to carry out with- 
out further delay the improvements and reforms demanded by 
local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Ar- 
menians, and to guarantee their security against Circassians 
and Kurds. It will periodically make known the steps taken 
to this efifect to the powers, who will superintend their ap- 
plication." These promises were m.ade eighteen or nineteen 
years ago, and the reforms were to be made, "without further 
delay." His reforms have consisted in ordering Circassians 
and Kurds to murder and plunder them. Since the Berlin 
Treaty, the Sultan, calling the European Kings, Emperors and 
Princes heathen hogs and Christian dogs, directly and indi- 
rectly, he has killed nearly 200,000 Armenian Christians. But 
still 500,000 Armenians remain today who need only daily 
bread. That was his reform. 

I often hear it said in this country, "Let us help the poor 
Armenians," and I feel very indignant. Poor Armenians! 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 21 5 

There are poor among the Armenians as among all nations, 
but the Armenians as a body are not poor; they are the richest 
people in Turkey. That is one reason why they are plundered 
and killed. I do not want the American people to help the 
Armenians as a poor, ignorant, miserable people, but because 
they deserve help as a rich, noble, Christian nation, being 
rusted out by plunder and murder, for the benefit of, and by 
means of a horde of savages. 

After the last war, and loss of the provinces, the Sultan 
encouraged the Mohammedan population of European Turkey 
to emigrate to Asiatic Turkey, that they might not live under 
Christians, and that they might increase the number of Mo- 
hammedans in the Asiatic part. The slaughter of the /Ar- 
menians and the confiscation of their property forms part of 
the scheme to make room for them. Before his time the 
Armenians in Armenia outnumbered the Turks; but the mas- 
sacres, the occupation of the farms and houses by the savages 
let loose on them, and the emigration of many more Armenians 
to Persia and Russia, have greatly diminished their numbers. 
Of course they are not permitted to emigrate ; they simply fly. 
About 200,000 have actually perished. As to the forced con- 
versions the Sultan does not care a particle for Islamism, but 
wants to please the Muslim and finds this an agreeable way 
to do it. As to the converts from Islamism to Christianity, 
they are ordered to go to Constantinople and are killed there. 
Hundreds and thousands of the Mohammedan Turks are 
Christians in secret, but do not dare to confess it. These are 
the ones who helped and protected the Armenians during the 
recent atrocities. Some six or seven years ago a number of 
such professed the Christian religion publicly; they were at 
once ordered to go to Constantinople and every one of them 
was murdered by order of the Sultan. When the represen- 
tatives of the Christian powers asked about them the Sultan 
denied that they had come there at all. This was the method 
of their assassination: The Sultan has several pleasure boats, 
and in one of those boats he fitted up an air-tight room with an 



2l6 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

air-pump; each night one of the converts was taken from 
prison and put into this room, the air was pumped out, and he 
was suffocated ; then an iron chain was hooked around him and 
he was thrown into the Bosphorus. One by one all of them 
were so murdered. How did the author of this book discover 
the secret? Well, when in Constantinople I had an intimate 
friend among the engineers. The engineer of this death boat 
told my friend about it and he told me. 

And the Sultan is not simply a murderer by proxy and 
official order; he is a murderer himself personally. When in 
Constantinople I learned from several authoritative sources 
that he killed with his own revolver several of his servants for 
no cause whatever, but merely from suspicion or rage. He 
always keeps a revolver in his pocket, and whomever in the 
palace he suspects he shoots. 

VIH. The eighth cause of the horrors to the Armenians, 
these are come through the great powers of the European. 

During the last several years Constantinople has been the 
great battle ground of European diplomacy. England was 
the first in the field. The occasion of her action was the de- 
struction of the Armenian villages and the massacres of many 
of the people in the Kurdish mountains near Sassoun, in Au- 
gust and September, 1894. The facts were denied by the 
Turkish government, and she demanded an investigation and 
such reforms as should insure the safety and well-being of the 
Armenians. She invited Russia and France to unite with 
her in securing both these ends. They consented. Italy ex- 
pressed a wish to join them, but this ofifer was declined. Aus- 
tria and Germany were not invited, and did not wish to be, as 
they had no interest in Asiatic Turkey. 

England, France and Russia worked together in apparent 
harmony, secured a Turkish commission of investigation and 
appointed their own delegates to oversee its action. This 
commission, appointed in November, 1894, continued its sit- 
tings until July, 1895, and a report of its doings has just been 
published in an EngHsh Blue Book. Meanwhile the English, 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 21^ 

Russian and French ambassadors devoted their attention to 
the elaboration of a scheme of reforms for the six provinces 
in which the Armenians were most numerous. This was 
completed and presented to the Sultan as the minimum of re- 
forms, which the three powers could accept in harmony and 
his immediate acceptance of them demanded. This was in 
May, 1895. After a delay of more than two weeks, the Sultan 
returned an evasive and unsatisfactory answer. Up to this 
point the three powers seem to have worked together in har- 
mony. The other powers, when appealed to by the Sultan, 
declined to interfere. 

The question then arose what was to be done. Should 
these demands be presented as an ultimatum, and the Sultan 
be forced to accept them and carry them out? or should they 
be left where they were as so much good advice, which he 
might take or reject? England was in favor of coercion, but 
Russia and France opposed it. Just at this time the Liberal 
government in England resigned: the Conservatives came in 
with a practical interregnum until after the election in July. 
Lord Salisbury took up the question as he found it. Russia 
and France persisted in their refusal to admit of the use of 
force, and gave this assurance to the Sultan. Still the three 
powers pressed their demands diplomatically, and the English 
fleet came into the vicinity of the Dardanelles. Germany ex- 
pressed her sympathy with the Sultan, but still advised him 
to come to terms with the three powers. At the end of Sep- 
tember came the outbreak at Constantinople and the massacre 
of some two hundred Armenians in the streets. Three weeks 
later the Sultan accepted, with some unimportant modifica- 
tions, the scheme of reforms presented to him in May, 1895, 
and here ended the alliance of England, France and Russia. 
There had been no real harmony between them for some time. 
Russia and France remained in it not to help the Armenians, 
but to control the action of England, and, if possible, prevent 
her sending her fleet to Constantinople, still there was no 
positive acknowledged break. 



2l8 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Meanwhile there had been massacres at Trebezand, Ak- 
Hissar, Baiburt, Giumushkhane, Erzingan, Diarbekr, and 
other places, which showed that the situation was far more 
grave than any one in Europe had supposed. 

The excitement in England was intense. It was believed 
that there was a deliberate purpose to exterminate the Armen- 
ians, and the English government believed that armed in- 
tervention was necessary to dethrone the Sultan, or at least 
to limit his power. Exactly what happened between the first 
of October and the middle of November between the great 
powers we do not know. There is reason to believe that Ger- 
many proposed to England to join the Triple Alliance, in 
which case the four powers would go to Constantinople to- 
gether. England refused and Germany resented it, and threw 
all her influence into the scale with Russia. At this point was 
formed the concert of the six powers, which was simply a 
mutual agreement that no power should act independently, 
and all the fleets gathered in the ^gean to watch each other. 
By the end of December it was evident that nothing would be 
done, and one by one they stole silently away, leaving the 
Sultan apparently master of the situation. There is no doubt 
that all through the year the Sultan showed consummate skill 
in this diplomatic conflict, and a better knowledge of the situ- 
ation than most of the statesmen concerned in it. Technically 
he won the battle. England has been beaten and humiliated 
and the Sultan is in close alliance with Russia, France and 
Germany, stronger, if he can trust his allies, than ever before. 
The Continental governments have had a perfectly free hand 
in this conflict, because there has been no popular feeling of 
sympathy for the Armenians. The Continental press has either 
ignored the massacres or represented them as due to the revo- 
lutionary spirit of the Armenians. "Any way," they have said, 
"who are the Armenians? What interest have we in these 
Asiatics?" 

But can the Sultan trust his ahies? In fact he has but 
one; France and Germany are simply bidding against one 



AND THE ARMENIANS. ■ 2ig 

another for the friendships of Russia and follow her lead at 
Constantinople. The real victor in this conflict is not Turkey 
but Russia — who has played the part of a disinterested friend 
of the Sultan so well that she has for the first time in history 
driven England off the field and became the sole protector of 
the Ottoma;i Empire, thus realizing the dream of centuries. 
The first result of this triumph is a close alliance of Russia 
with Bulgaria, Servia and Montenegro, and the overthrow of 
Austrian influence in the Balkan peninsular to be consum- 
mated this week at Sofia. 

Russia is now supreme in this part of the world and can 
do what she pleases. What she will do with her newly ac- 
quired influence remains to be seen. She will do nothing 
for the Armenians, that is certain. She has not professed any 
interest in them. She has before her three possible courses 
of action from which she must choose one. She may seize 
upon the present opportunity, the best she has ever had to 
come to Constantinople. 

First, perhaps, as the friend and support of the Sultan; 
but any way, come to stay. The alliance with the Balkan 
states makes this easy, even if the Sultan should be inclined to 
resist. But he will not. It is only necessary to stir up serious 
trouble in Constantinople to make the coming appear as a 
friendly act of a trusted ally. If no effort is made to put a 
stop to the troubles in the interior or here, this will be an in- 
dication that this plan is in favor at the Russian embassy here, 
if not at St. Petersburg, and may be realized soon. 

Second, possibility for Russia is to make her alliance with 
Turkey and the Balkan states as agreeable to them as possible, 
to do her best to restore and preserve order, and with them 
as allies to guard her rear and flank, to attack Austria and bring 
all the Southern Slavs under her own rule, or at least under her 
protection. This is the dream of the Pan-Slavists, who are 
the strongest and most active party in Russia. This would 
mean a general European war, for Germany and Italy are 
bound by treaty to defend Austria from any such attack. 



220 ILLI STRATED ARMENIA 

France would improve her opportunity to recover Alsace and 
Lorraine. England pretends to believe that the old Austrian 
Alliance is no longer of any value to her, but the chances are 
that she would become involved in such a war. 

The third possibility for Russia is to maintain the present 
state of things here — to continue to play with France and Ger- 
many, giving encouragement to both and securing the aid of 
both to destroy English influence in China and to gain a com- 
manding position there herself, with some compensation to 
France and Germany, this might lead to a war with England. 

"It is plain that Russia cannot do more than one of these 
things, and to decide which is the most desirable and practic- 
able will demand the highest statesmanship. My own opinion is 
that no deliberate choice will be made, but that, as in most 
Russian affairs, the decision will be left to chance and be de- 
termined by some accident, by a massacre in Constantinople, 
by some resentful action on the part of Austria in connection 
with the Balkan states, or by some event in the far East. 
Russia is never in a hurry. The Czar has determined to have 
grand coronation ceremonies in May, and will hardly be in- 
clined to stir up trouble anywhere before that time. 

The great powers have each of them some general ideas 
of what they consider to be their interests. Each has a policy 
of some kind. But now that the telegraph has put an end to 
all independent action on the part of ambassadors, and every- 
thing is managed by the foreign ministers, diplomacy has be- 
come a hand to mouth affair. There is very little planning 
for the future or for the people of the East. 

Listen to what the haughty young ruler of Germany says : 
'Tt is better that the Armenians be killed than the peace of 
Europe disturbed." 

The Sultan, to begin with, has proved himself to be one 
of the boldest and most skilful diplomatists in Europe, and 
his point of view is so totally different from that of Christian 
rulers that no one can calculate in what direction it will lead 
him. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 221 

With such elements of uncertainty in the methods of 
diplomacy and in the men who direct it, it would be folly to 
venture upon any predictions for the future. Things may 
drift on for months or years very much as they are today, or 
some unforeseen incident may change the whole face of 
Europe. 

It is perfectly true that the government, whose deeds we 
have to impeach, is a Mohammedan government, and it is 
perfectly true that the sufferers under those outrages, under 
those actions, are Christian sufferers. The Mohammedan 
subjects of Turkey suffer a great deal, but what they suffer is 
only in the way of the ordinary excesses and defects of an in- 
tolerably bad government — perhaps the worst on the face of 
the earth. Well, I say, the great powers gave chance or priv- 
ilege to Turkish Sultan to ruin himself, and also the popula- 
tion of Turkev. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE MASSACRE AND MARTYRDOM OF ARMENIA. 

Turkish atrocities in Armenia are not new things. The 
previous brief history of this people, especially since the intro- 
duction of Christianity into Armenia, has furnished the reader 
with sufficient facts to convince him that the real troubles and 
atrocities of this nation began from the time of their conversion 
to Christianity, and has come down to the present time. 

What the Armenians are now is not less than what they 
have suffered in the fifth century from the hands of the fire- 
worshipping Persians. Had they then received Zoroastrian- 
ism, forced upon them, they might have changed the entire 
aspect of the history of Western Asia, or had they embraced 
Mohammedanism in the seventh century, when fanatic mis- 
sionary soldiers of Mohammed fell upon them, sword in hand, 
and massacred thousands upon thousands in cold blood, be- 
cause they refused to accept the sensual religion of a sensual 
and bloody man, again the history of Western Asia might have 
been differently written from the present. They have gone on 
for centuries and left but a fraction of the population it once 
had. But let us disregard old history and come to the subject 
of the present, those that were begun about the last of August, 
1894, and to the end of August, 1896, which are horrible 
atrocities^ and ^oppressions which had been done among the 
Armenians^ Practically that begins with Hamid II., the pres- 
ent Sultan. He began his persecutions nearly twenty years 
ago, but on a small scale. He had continually devised new 
methods of getting rid of the Armenians without responsibility. 
Finally he hit on the plan of arming the Kurds and letting 
them loose with full power to do their worst. He summoned 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 223 

the Kurdish chiefs, hundreds of them, to Constantinople, and 
entertained them in the palace, armed them with modern rifles, 
and sent them to Armenia on their mission. The pretence 
under which he did it was worthy of him; he called them the 
"Hamidish Cavalry," and pretended that they were a sort of 
mounted police who were to keep order and protect the Ar- 
menians, but the Armenians knew well what they were for. 
The European travellers and newspaper correspondents took 
it all seriously and talked of his "civilizing the Kurds," etc. 
Now these were only the chiefs ; each chief had a large follow- 
ing of tribesmen, so that about 30,000 Kurds in all were given 
arms and ordered to go to work exterminating the Armenians. 
This work began in 1891, but on a small scale, and in a 
very craftv way so that it should not have the appearance of a 
premeditated massacre; then it was stopped till about 1894, 
when they were encouraged to begin again, publicly, and with 
full swing. It was decided to begin in Sassoun, a district far 
from the sea, with no roads and a sparse population; if suc- 
cessful in escaping the report there, he could carry out the 
massacre through all Armenia, for which "reforms" were asked 
and promised. He ordered Zekii Pasha to have his soldiers 
ready, and meantime to have the "Hamidish Cavalry," the 
Kurdish chiefs and tribesmen ready to attack and kill all the 
Armenians in Sassoun. This city lies between Moosh and 
Bitlis, in a mountainous country, and the Armenians in Sas- 
soun are almost a brave people. The district has about sixty 
villages and towns, and more than 12,000 people in 1894 had 
been killed. The chief commander, Zekii Pasha, and the regu- 
lar soldiers and the armed Kurds, surrounded the district from 
all sides, and in about a month had slaughtered the entire 
population. It was reported that Zekii carried orr his breast 
an order from the Sultan as follows: "Whoever spares man, 
woman or child is disloyal." After he had finished his task 
he received great rewards from the Sultan, and is now one of 
his most esteemed commanders. Before themassacre of thepeo- 
ple at Sassoun, the Sultan's order to Zekii Pasha was to 



224 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Spare neither man, woman nor child, but as the men met the 
enemy first, they were killed first. When the Avomen's turn 
came, the Turks and Kurds abused all they could get hold of 
and then told them that if they would deny Christ and accept 
Mohammedianism,and become their wives, they should live, but 
if they refused, every one of them, according to the Sultan's 
order, should be killed. "Now," said they, "choose between 
Islam and death." The noble Armenian Christian women 
said: "We are Christians; we can never deny Christ. Jesus 
Christ is our Saviour, He came down from heaven and died 
on the cross for us; for that dying and loving Christ, we are 
Christians, we are ready to die for Him who died for us," and 
they added further "We are no better than our husbands were ; 
you killed them, please kill us too." Then the horrible 
butchery began on these defenseless w^omen. A good many of 
them were slaughtered and a good many of them ran to 
different churches, hoping that perhaps they might find pro- 
tection in some way in those holy walls, or hoping that God in 
his great mercy might shelter them, but the ferocious Kurds 
and Turkish soldiers pursued them, sword in hand, violated 
them even in the churches, and cut their throats there until 
the floors were streaming with blood, then they poured kero- 
sene on the building and burned them. 

They went to one village and killed every man, the 
women, of course, knowing that their fate was soon to be worse 
than their husband's. One of the leading women named 
Shaheg, perceiving, that the Turks and Kurds were getting 
ready to seize and ravish them, called the other women and 
said: "Sisters, our husband's are killed, and you know what is 
in store for us and our children. Don't let us fall into the 
hands of those savage beasts, we have to die anyway, and can 
die easier, and without being defiled first, and perhaps tor- 
tured. Let us go to the precipice and jump off." So saying, 
she took her baby on her arm, ran to the rock, and threw her- 
self over. The others followed her, and thus all were killed. 
In the meantime the Turks captured many boys and girls, six 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 225 

or eight of ten years of age, held them by an arm or foot, 
and hacked them to pieces with their swords. Sometimes they 
stood the boys in a row and shot them, to see how many could 
be killed by a single bullet. They wrenched babies from their 
mothers' arms, cut their throats while the mothers shrieked 
and pleaded, and boiling them in kettles, forced the mothers to 
eat the flesh. They cut open women about to become 
mothers, tore out the unborn babes, and marched triumphantly 
with the ghastly trophies on their spears, crucifying head down- 
ward, and pouring boiling water on them, leaving them so 
till death came; flaying alive, cutting of¥ arms, feet, nose, 
ears and other members, and leaving them to die; thrusting 
red-hot wires into and through their bodies. They pulled out 
the eyes of several Christian pastors, saying: "Now dance for 
us." They poured kerosene on them and burned them to 
death. They put a Bible and a cross before others and ordered 
them to first spit and then trample on both and deny Christ, 
on their refusal they were butchered. The handsomest girls 
and young matrons were not murdered, but worse; each one 
was kept as a spoil of some Turk or Kurd, who carried her to 
his house and made a slave and concubine of her. 

This is another specimen of Mohammed religion, and it 
all happens because the Armenians are Christians. They 
boasted of it, they plumed themselves on it, they praised the 
Sultan for ordering them to do it, and he praised them for do- 
ing it and decorated all the officers. 



THE MASSACRE OF 1 894. 

"The Armenians of Sassoun were fully aware of the hostile 
intention of the government, but they could not imagine it to 
be one of utter extermination. 

'The Porte had prepared its plans, Sassoun was doomed. 
The Kurds were to come in much greater number, the govern- 
ment was to furnish the provision and ammunition, and the 
regular army was to second them in case of need. 



226 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

*'The various tribes received invitations to take part in 
the great expedition, and the chiefs, with their men, arrived 
one after the other. The total number of the Kurds who tools: 
part in the campaign may be estimated at 30,000. The Ar- 
menians believed in the beginning that they had to do only 
with the Kurds. They found out later that an Ottoman regu- 
lar army, with provisions, rifles, cannons, and kerosene oil, 
was standing at the back of the Kurds. 

"The plan was to destroy first Shenig, Semal, Guellie- 
goozan, AHantz, etc., and then to proceed toward Dalvorig. 
The Kurds, notwithstanding their immense numbers, proved 
to be unequal to the task. The Armenians held their own, 
and the Kurds got worsted. After a two weeks' fight be- 
tween Kurd and Armenian, the regular army entered into an 
active compaign. Mountain pieces began to thunder. The 
Armenians, having nearly exhausted their ammunition, took to 
flight. Kurd and Turk pursued them, and massacred men, 
women and children. The houses were searched and then 
set on fire. Certain groups of men, with tax receipts in their 
hands, went to the camp and asked to be protected, but were 
slaughtered. 

"A great number of villages outside of the Dalvorig dis- 
trict, which had in no wise been concerned in the conflicts of 
the previous years, were also attacked, to the unspeakable hor- 
ror of the population.The troops climbed up even the Mount 
Antok, where a multitude of fugitives had taken refuge, and 
massacred them. A number of women and girls were taken to 
the church of Guelliegoozan, and after- being frightfully abused, 
were tortured to death. 

"When the work of destruction was nearly accomplished 
in the other districts, some of the Kurdish armies were set on 
Dalvorig. The people defended themselves against the over- 
whelming number of the barbarians, but after four or five days 
they saw other tribes and regular Turkish troops marching on 
them from every side, and they took to flight, but were over- 
taken and massacred. The scene was most horrible. The en- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 22^ 

emy took a special delight in butchering the Dalvorig people. 
An immense crowd of Turkish and Kurdish soldiery fell upon 
the villages, busily searching the houses and rooting out hid- 
den treasures, and then setting fire to the village. While the 
troops were so occupied, a number of the fugitives fled wildly 
to get out of the district, and tried to hide themselves in caves, 
between rocks, or among bushes. Three days after the com- 
plete destruction of the Dalvorig villages, the Kurds and the 
regular soldiers divided among themselves the result of the 
plunder, and the Kurds returned to their own mountains." 

As my use of English is defective, I take the liberty here 
of quoting from a long letter by E. J. Dillon to the Contem- 
porary Review, January, 1896. 

Dr. Dillon is an Englishman who was the special corres- 
pondent of the London "Daily Telegraph," a most accurate 
and conscientious reporter, who writes as an eye-witness: 

'Tf a detailed description were possible of the horrors 
which our exclusive attention to our own mistaken interests 
let loose upon Turkish Armenians, there is not a man within 
the kingdom of Great Britain whose heart-strings would not 
be touched and thrilled by the gruesome stories of which it 
would be composed. 

''During all those seventeen years, written law, traditional 
custom, the fundamental maxims of human and divine justice 
were suspended in favor of a Mohammedan saturnalia. The 
Christians, by whose toil and thrift the empire was held to- 
gether, were despoiled, beggared, chained, beaten, and ban- 
ished or butchered. First their movable wealth was seized, 
then their landed property was confiscated, next the absolute 
necessaries of life were wrested from them, and finally honor, 
liberty and life were taken with as little ado as if these Chris- 
tian men and women were wasps or mosquitoes. Thousands of 
Armenians were thrown into prison by governors like Tahsin 
Pasha and Bahri Pasha, and tortured and terrorized till they 
delivered up the savings of a lifetime, and the support of the 
helpless families, to rufBanly parasites. Whole villages were 



228 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

attacked in broad daylight by the Imperial Kurdish cavalry 
without pretext or warning, the male inhabitants turned adrift 
or killed, and their wives and daughters transformed into instru- 
ments to glut the foul lusts of these beastial murderers. In a 
few years the provinces were decimated, Aloghkerd, for in- 
stance, being almost entirely ^purged' of Armenians. Over 
20,000 woe-stricken wretches, once healthy and well-to-do, fled 
to Russia or Persia in rags and misery, deformed, diseased, or 
dying; on the way they were seized over and over again by the 
soldiers of the Sultan, who deprived them of the little money 
they possessed, nay, of the clothes they were wearing, out- 
raged the married women in the presence of their sons and 
daughters, deflowered the tender girls before the eyes of their 
mothers and brothers, and then drove them over the frontier 
to starve and die. Those who remained for a time behind 
were no better off. Kurdish brigands lifted the last cows and 
goats of the peasants, carried away their carpets and their 
valuables, raped their daughters and dishonored their wives. 
Turkish tax-gatherers followed these, gleaning what the bri- 
gands had left, and, lest anything should escape their avarice, 
bound the men, flogged them till their bodies were a bloody, 
mangled mass, cicatrized the wounds with red-hot ramrods, 
plucked out their beards, hair by hair, tore the flesh from 
their limbs with pincers, and, often, even then, dissatisfied w^ith 
the financial results of their exertions, hung the men whom 
they had thus beggared and maltreated from the rafters of the 
room, and kept them there to witness with burning shame, im- 
potent rage, and incipient madness, the dishonoring of their 
wives and the deflowering of their daughters, some of whom 
died miserably during the hellish outrage. 

"In accordance with the plan of extermination, which has 
been carried out with such signal success during these long 
years of Turkish vigor and English sluggishness, all those Ar- 
menians who possessed money, or money's worth, were for a 
time allow^ed to purchase immunity from prison, and from ail 
that prison life in Asia Minor implies. But as soon as terror 





^it^^aiMilMiiiii 




AND THE ARMENIANS. 229 

and summary confiscation took the place of slow and elaborate 
extortion, the gloomy dungeons of Erzeroum, Erzinghan, Mar- 
sovan, Hassankaleh and Van were filled till there was no place 
to sit down, and scarcely sufficient standing room. And this 
means more than English people can realize, or any person 
believe who has not actually witnessed it. It would have been 
a torture for Turkish troopers and Kurdish brigands, but it was 
more than death to the educated school-masters, missionaries, 
priests and physicians, who were immured in these noisome 
hot-beds of infection, and forced to sleep night after night 
standing on their feet, leaning against the foul, reeking corner 
of the wall which all the prisoners were compelled to use as . . . 
The very worst class of Tartar and Kurdish criminals were 
turned in here to make these hell-chambers more unbearable 
to the Christians. And the experiment was everywhere suc- 
cessful. Human hatred and diabolical spite, combined with 
the most disgusting sights, and sounds, and stenches, with their 
gnawing hunger and their putrid food, their parching thirst and 
the slimy water, fit only for sewers, rendering their agony mad- 
dening. Yet these were not criminals nor alleged criminals, 
but upright Christian men, who were never even accused of an 
infraction of the law. No man who has not seen these prisons 
with his own eyes, and heard these prisoners with his own ears, 
can be expected to conceive, much less realize, the sufferings 
inflicted and endured. The loathsome diseases, whose terrible 
ravages were freely displayed; the still more loathsome vices, 
which were continually and openly practiced; the horrible blas- 
phemies, revolting obscenities, and ribald jests which alter- 
nated with cries of pain, songs of vice, and prayers to the un- 
seen God, made these prisons, in some respects, nearly as bad 
as the Black Hole of Calcutta, and in others infinitely worse. 
In one corner of this foul fever-nest a man might be heard 
moaning and groaning with the pain of a shattered arm or leg; 
in another, a youth is convulsed with the death spasms of 
cholera or poison; in the centre, a knot of Turks, whose dull 
eyes are fired with bestial lust, surround a Christian boy, who 



230 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

pleads for mercy with heart-harrowing voice while tlie human 
fiends actually outrage him to death. 

"Into these prisons venerable old ministers of religion 
were dragged from their churches, teachers from their schools, 
missionaries from their meeting-houses, physicians and peas- 
ants from their firesides. Those among them who refused to 
denounce their friends, or consent to some atrocious crime, 
were subjected to horrible agonies. Many a one, for instance, 
was put into a sentry-box bristling with sharp spikes, and 
forced to stand there motionless, without food or drink, for 
twenty-four and even thirty-six hours, was revived with stripes 
whenever he fell fainting to the prickly floor, and was car- 
ried out unconscious at the end. It was thus that hundreds 
of Armenian Christians, whose names and histories are on 
record, suffered for refusing to sign addresses to the Sultan 
accusing their neighbor and relatives of high treason. It was 
thus that Azo was treated by his judges, the Turkish officials, 
Talib Eenfifdi, Captain Reshid, and Captain Hadji Fehim Agha, 
for declining to swear away the lives of the best men of his 
village. A whole night was spent in torturing him. He was 
first bastinadoed in a room close to which his female relatives 
and friends were shut up so that they could hear his cries. 
Then he was stripped naked, two poles extending from his arm- 
pits to his feet were placed on each side of bis body and tied 
tightly. His arms were next stretched out horizontally and 
poles arranged to support his hands. This living cross was then 
bound to a pillar, and the flogging began. The whips left 
livid traces behind. The wretched man was unable to make 
the slightest movement to ease his pain. His features alone, 
hideously distorted, revealed the anguish he endured. The . 
louder he cried, the more heavily fell the whip. Over and 
over again he entreated his tormentors to put him out of pain, 
saying, Tf you want my death kill me with a bullet, but for 
God's sake don't torture me like this!' His head alone being 
free, he at last, maddened by excruciating pain, endeavored 
to dash out his brains against the pillar, hoping in this way 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 23I 

to end his agony. But this consummation was hindered by 
the police. They questioned him again; but in spite of his 
condition, Azo replied as before: T cannot defile my soul with 
the blood of innocent people. I am a Christian.' Enraged at 
his obstinacy, Talib Effendi, the Turkish official, ordered the 
application of other and more effective tortures. Pincers were 
fetched to pull out his teeth, but Azo remaining firm, this 
method was not long persisted in. Then Talib commanded 
his servants to pluck out the prisoner's moustachios by the 
roots, one hair at a time. This order the gendarmes executed, 
with roars of infernal laughter. But this treatment proving 
equally ineffectual, Talib instructed the men to cauterize the 
unfortunate victim's body. A spit was heated in the fire. 
Azo's arms were freed from their supports, and two brawny 
policemen approached, one on each side, and seized him. 
Meanwdiile another gendarme held to the middle of the 
wretched man's hand the glowing spit. While his flesh was 
thus burning, the victim shouted out in agony, 'For the love 
of God kill me at once!' 

"Then the executioners, removing the red-hot spit from 
his hands, applied it to his breast, then to his back, his face, 
his feet, and other parts. After this, they forced open his 
mouth, and burned his tongue with red-hot pincers. During 
these inhuman operations, Azo fainted several times, but on 
recovering consciousness maintained the same inflexibility of 
purpose. 

Meanwhile, in the adjoining apartment, a heartrending 
scene w^as being enacted. The women and the children, 
terrified by the groans and cries of the tortured man, fainted. 
When they revived, they endeavored to rush out and call for 
help, but the gendarmes, stationed at the door, barred their 
passage, and brutally pushed them back. 

''Nights were passed in such hellish orgies and days in in- 
venting new tortures or refining upon the old, with an in- 
genuity which reveals unimagined strata of malignity in the 



2^2 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

human heart. The results throw the most sickening horrors 
of the Middle Ages into the shade. Some of them cannot be 
described, nor even hinted at. The shock to people's sensibili- 
ties would be too terrible. And yet they were not merely 
described to, but endured by men of education and refinement, 
whose sensibilities were as delicate as ours. 

"And when the prisons in which these and analogous do- 
ings were carried on had no more room for new-comers, some 
of the least obnoxious of its actual inmates \^ere released for 
a bribe, or, in case of poverty, were expeditiously poisoned ofif. 

"In the hom.es of these wretched people the fiendish fan- 
atics were equally active and equally successful. Family life 
was poisoned at its very source. Rape and dishonor, with 
nameless accompaniments, menaced almost every girl and wo- 
man in the land. They could not stir out of their houses in 
broad daylight to visit the bazaars, or to work in the fields, 
nor even lie down at night in their own homes, without fearing 
the fall of that Damocles' sword ever suspended over their 
heads. Tender youth, childhood itself, was no guarantee. 
Children were often married at the age of eleven, even ten, 
in the vain hope of lessening this danger. But the protection 
of a husband proved unavailing; it merely meant one murder 
more, and one 'Christian dog' less. A bride would be married 
in church yesterday, and her body would be devoured by the 
beasts and birds of prey to-morrow, — a band of ruffians, often 
officials, having within the intervening forty-eight hours seized 
her and outraged her to death. Others would be abducted, 
and, having for weeks been subjected to the loathsome lusts 
of lawless Kurds, would end by abjuring their God and em- 
bracing Islam; not from any vulgar motive of gain, but to 
escape the burning shame of returning home as pariahs and 
lepers, to be shunned by those near and dear to them forever. 
Little girls of five and six were frequently forced to be present 
during these horrible scenes of lust, and they, too, were often 
sacrificed before the eyes of their mothers, who would have 
gladly, madly accepted death, ay, and damnation, to save their 
tender offspring from the corroding poison. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 233 

''One of the abducted young women who, having been 
outraged by the son of the Deputy-Governor of Khnouss, Hus- 
sein Bey, returned, a pariah, and is. now alone in the world, 
lately appealed to her English sisters for such aid as a heathen 
would give to a brute, and she besought it in the name of our 
common God. Lucine Mussegh — this is the name of that out- 
raged young woman whose Protestant education gave her, 
as she thought, a special claim to act as a spokes-woman of Ar- 
menian mothers and daughters — Lucine Mussegh besought, 
last March, the women of England to obtain for the women 
of Armenia the 'privilege' of living a pure and chaste life! 
This was the boon which she craved — but did not, could not 
obtain. The interests of 'higher politics,- the -civilizing mis- 
sions of the Christian powers, are, it seems, incompatible with 
it! 'For the love of the God whom we worship in common,' 
wrote this outraged, but still hopeful, Armenian lady, 'help us, 
Christian sisters! Help us before it is too late, and take the 
thanks of the mothers, the waves, the sisters, and the daughters 
of my people, and with them the gratitude of one for whom, 
in spite of her youth, death would come as a happy release.' 

''Neither the Christian sisters nor the Christian brethren 
in England have seen their way to comply with this strange 
request. But it may perhaps interest Lucine Messegh to learn 
that the six great powers of Enrope are quite unanimous, and 
are manfully resolved, come what will, to shield His Majesty 
the Sultan from harm, to support his rule, and to guarantee 
his kingdom from disintegration. These are objects worthy of 
the attention of the great powers ; as for the privilege of lead- 
ing pure and chaste lives — they cannot be importuned about 
such private matters. 

"In due time they began. Over 60,000 Armenians have 
been butchered, and the massacres are not quite ended yet. In 
Trebizond, Erzeroum, Erzinghan, Hassankalek, and number- 
less other places the Christians were crushed like grapes dur- 
ing the vintage. The frantic mob, seething and surging in the 
streets of the cities, swept down upon the defenseless Armen- 



234 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

ians, plundered their shops, gutted their houses, then joked 
and jested with the terrified victims, as cats play with mice. 
As rapid, whirling motion produces apparent rest, so the wild 
frenzy of those fierce fanatical crowds resulting in a condition 
of seeming calmness, composure, and gentleness, which, taken 
in connection with the unutterable brutality of their acts, was 
of a nature to freeze men's blood with horror. In many cases 
they almost caressed their victims, and actually encouraged 
them to hope while preparing the instruments of slaughter." 

After the horrible scenes at Sassoun, and other places, 
the Armenian protests shamed the European powers, who 
signed the treaty of Berlin, to send a commission and investi- 
gate the atrocities. It found the stories quite true, laid the 
facts before the Sultan — and that was the end of it. The Ar- 
menians asked, "Since you admit the truth of these things, 
why do you not punish the criminals, stop the outrages, and 
compel the payment of indemnity to those who were outraged 
and who lost their dear ones and their property?" The powers 
were deaf to all this. Then the Armenians prepared an appeal 
(several months ago) and carried it to the Sublime Porte, ask- 
ing it to do them justice. As soon as the Sultan heard of this, 
he ordered his soldiers to fire on them if they presented it. The 
appeal was presented, and before the eyes of the European Am- 
bassadors in Constantinople, the brave soldiers of the kind- 
hearted Sultan butchered about 3,000 Armenian Christians, 
several thousand were imprisoned, and several hundred were 
murdered in the Central Prison. Then the cold, wise, and 
considerate European powers began to move very slowly, not 
for the sake of the Armenians, but for their own, their citi- 
zens in Constantinople and elsewhere. 

They ordered the Sultan to reform Armenia, brought 
their fleets to the Dardanelles near Constantinople to overawe 
him, prepared a scheme of reform for Armenia, and made huge 
threats to the Sultan if he did not accept it. But he knew that 
this pretended concert of the powers for Armenian reform 
was a mere trick and a sham, as I have persistently asserted all 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 235 

along in the face of ni}^ hopeful European and American 
friends; in fact, the Russian government at this very time was 
secretly urging him to stand firm and refuse to accept the re- 
forms. He did so, broached a scheme of his own as a sub- 
stitute, and the powers accepted it as such ; and then the whole 
thing was dropped, the Sultan did nothing whatever about it, 
as he had never intended to. The European countries were 
hoodwinked, and the Armenian massacres and conflagrations, 
plundering and deflowering, went on at a greater pace than 
ever. Then the powers dropped the Armenian question, and 
took up that of gunboats in the Bosphorus, to protect their 
citizens against a rising in Constantinople; that they forced the 
Sultan to permit, because their own interests were concerned 
in it, — which shows that they could have forced him to stop 
exterminating the Armenians if they had cared. All joined in 
this except Germany; the German Emneror is the Sultan's 
friend, and backs him up. So now, Germany, Russia, and the 
Sultan are hand in hand, leagued to prevent any of the miser- 
able victims of his tyranny from escaping his clutches, and the 
Sultan has the best possible encouragement to go on killing 
the Armenians. The German Emperor says, "Better the Ar- 
menians be killed than have a war in Europe and lose the 
lives of some of my soldiers." The Czar says, "Time must be 
given to the Sultan to reform his country." Lord Salisbury 
says, "The Sultan has promised, and we must wait and see 
what he will do." And the Sultan, cursin'g every Emperor 
and lord of them all as a set of Christian hogs, orders the sold- 
iers and the Kurds to go on with the good work in Armenia. 
And when we come to America, the Monroe doctrine obliges it 
to quarrel over Venezuela, and not only refuse help itself, but 
give Lord Salisbury a good excuse to give none either. 

Such is the situation; the massacres are going on in Ar- 
menia and the Armenians in despair are crying, "O Lord, how 
long, how long!" 

Mass meetings are good as far as they go; raising money 
and sending it to relieve the Armenians is good as far as it 



236 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

goes; the Red Cross Society is good as far as it goes; there 
are no objections to any of them; they are all noble and Christ- 
ian. But, reader, don't you think all these good movements 
with good motives will hurt the Armenian, cause, as there is 
nothing to aid that cause directly? All these mass-meetings 
merely irritate the Sultan into carrying on the murders more 
strenuously, since there is no force back of them. Don't you 
think the Armenian question being discussed in the United 
States Congress, and resolutions made without any action, will 
hurt the Armenians more than* anything else? If you can't 
tread down the Sultan, don't stir him up. Miss Clara Barton, 
that noble woman, is in Armenia to help the Armenians. The 
Red Cross Society is there and is feeding the Armenians. I 
thank her, every Armenian thanks her. But do you think that 
that will relieve the situation? Spring has come, and what 
now? Will the Armenians have any crops? Did they, or 
could they sow any seed? Is there any farmer left alive? Has 
any farmer, if he is alive, any oxen or horses? If he has, will 
he dare go to his field, sow, reap, and thresh? Reader, con- 
sider all these things, and reconsider them, and I am sure you 
will come to the same conclusion I did many years ago, that 
Turkey does not need a Red Cross Society, not like the medi- 
aeval crusades, but a Protestant American crusade in the nine- 
teenth century. Let me illustrate this Armenian question by 
the following parable: — 

Suppose a lamb is torn by a wolf, and the wolf lies in wait 
to finish it. You go to the lamb with a bundle of grass in 
your hand, pat it and say, "Here, poor lamb, I pity you, I give 
you grass ; take it and eat." Then you leave the lamb and go 
away. Do you think you have helped the lamb? As soon as 
you have gone the wolf will come and tear the lamb to pieces. 
If you are going to help the lamb, you must kill the wolf, else 
no matter how much grass you give the wouuded lamb, it will 
do it no goad- You will do no good by sending Red Cross 
societies to Armenia to feed the Armenians if you have not the 
power of the will to keep the wild beasts off. You will feed 
them, and then the wolves will kill them. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 23/ 

Now I will pass in review some of the leading cities in Ar- 
menia where there have been great persecutions. Before be- 
ginning, however, I must state that it is impossible to give an 
accurate census of the population in the Armenian cities, or 
the number who have been massacred; for the Turkish gov- 
ernment never takes a correct census, and never gives or will 
give the true number of those it has murdered. But I think 
I can make a fair approximation of both. I will begin with the 
city of Harpoot. 



HARPOOT AND ITS VICINITY. 

This is one of the most important Armenian districts, be- 
cause the Armenians outnumber the Mohammedans there ; in 
the cities the Turks are the more numerous, but there are 
many Armenian town and villages which make up. The dis- 
trict has about 150,000 people, most of them Armenians, and 
about 40,000 were killed in the recent massacre. Harpoot is 
built on three hills, and has a commanding view. Here is lo- 
cated a great American missionary institution, the Euphrates 
College; it has three departments, the college, the Theological 
Seminarv, and the Girls' Seminarv. There were twelve build- 
ings, eight of which were burned in the outrages, a loss of 
$100,000. 

Almost all the outlying villages wxre burned, and the 
movables carried off. Women were made preys, boys and girls 
were kidnapped; the horrors can never be described. T give 
here a few words from a private letter, written to a Moham- 
medan Turk to his brother in this country. I have the letter 
in my possession, written in the Turkish language. He says : 

"My dear brother: All the Christian villages which belong 
to Harpoot district, we plundered and destroyed, and killed 
the inhabitants. We killed them both with our swords and 



238 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

with our rifles. The bullets of our rifles poured upon them 
like rain; none of them are left, neither any dwelling was left, 
we burnt all their houses. We thank God that not a single 
Mohammedan was killed. Everywhere throughout Armenia 
the Christians were punished in the same manner." 

Another testimony from another Mohammedan, an officer; 
he says nearly 40,000 were killed in Harpoot province, Febru- 
ary 26, 1896: — 

"A petition in behalf of the Armenians was given to the 
powers in the hope of improving their condition. An imperial 
firman was issued for carrying out the reforms suggested by 
the powers. On this account the Turkish population was 
much excited, and thought that an Armenian principality was 
to be established, and they began to show great hostility to 
the poor Armenians, who had been obedient to them and 
with whom they had lived in peace for more than 600 years. 
To the anger of the people were added the permission and help 
of the government; and so, before the reforms were under- 
taken, the whole Turkish population was aroused, with the 
evil intent of obliterating the Armenian name; and so the 
Turks of the province, joining with the neighboring Kurdish 
tribes by the thousand, armed with weapons which are allowed 
only to the army, and with the help and under the guidance 
of Turkish oflicials, in an open manner, in the daytime, attacked 
the Armenian houses, shops, stores, monasteries, churches, 
schools, and committed the fearful atrocities set forth in the 
accompanying table. They killed bishops, priests, teachers, 
and common people with every kind of torture, and they showed 
special spite toward ecclesiastics by treating their bodies with 
extra indignity, and in many cases they did not allow their bod- 
ies to be buried. Some they burned, and som.e they gave as 
food to dogs and wild beasts. 

"They plundered churches and monasteries, and they took 
all the property of the common people, their flocks and herds, 
their ornaments and their money, their house furnishings and 
their food, and even the clothing of the men and women in 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 239 

their flight. Then after plundering them, they burned many 
houses, churches, monasteries, schools and markets, some- 
times using petroleum, which they had brought with them to 
hasten the burning; large stone churches which would not 
burn they ruined in other ways. 

"Priests, laymen, women, and even small children were 
made Moslems by force. They put white turbans on the men 
and circumcised them in a cruel manner. They cut the hair 
of the women in bangs, like that of Moslem women, and made 
them go through the Mohammedan prayers. Married women 
and girls were defiled, against the sacred law, and some were 
married by force, and are still detained in Turkish houses. 
Especially in Palu, Severek, Malatia, Arabkir, and Choon- 
koosh, many wom.en and girls were taken to the soldiers' bar- 
racks and dishonored. Many, to escape, threw themselves 
into the Euphrates, or committed suicide in other ways. 

"It is clear that the majority of those killed in Harpoot, 
Severek, Husenik, Malatia, and Arabkir were killed by the 
soldiers, and also that the schools and churches of the missiona- 
ries and Gregorians in the upper quarter of Harpoot City, to- 
gether with the houses, were set on fire by cannon balls. 

'Tt is impossible to state the amount of pecuniary loss. 
The single city of Egin has given 1,200 (some say 1,500) Turk- 
ish pounds as a ransom. 

"These events have occurred for the reasons I have men- 
tioned. I wish to show by this statement, which I have writ- 
ten from love to humanity, that the Armenians gave no occa- 
sion for these attacks." 

The Turk, whose document is thus translated, figures that 
the total deaths in the province of Harpoot during the scenes, 
have been 39,334; the wounded 8,000; houses burned, 28,562; 
and the number of the destitutes is 94,870. 

In a letter just received (Jan. 18, 1896) from the Rev. 
H. N. Barnum, D.D., of Harpoot, Eastern Turkey, where the 
property of the American Board was burned, he says that 
reports have been secured from 176 villages in the vicinity of 



240 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

Harpoot. These villages contained 15,400 houses belonging 
to Christians. Of this number 7,054 have been burned, and 
15,845 persons are reported kihed. Dr. Barnum adds: "The 
reality, I fear, will prove to be much greater." 

The statistics of the last outrages will never be accurately 
known, but the most careful figures thus far received, the par- 
tial, are as told. In the table below I will try to show the popu- 
lation of the ten provinces and the houses and shops plundered 
and destroyed or burned in the ten provinces, namely: Erze- 
rim, Bitlis, Diarbekr, Van, Harpoot, Sivas, Trebizond, An- 
gora, Adana, and Aleppo: 

Total population of the ten provinces 5,898,300 

Armenians in the ten provinces 1,192,000 

Total houses and shops plundered and destroyed or 

burned in the provinces 62,661 

Number killed in the ten provinces 83,895 

Number forced to accept Islam in the ten provinces 40,950 

Number left entirely destitute in the ten provinces. . 315,060 

Number of the widow women 65,650 

Number of Armenian Orphans 55>ooc> 

It thus appears that about nine-tenths of the outrages oc- 
curred within the first six provinces to which the reform scheme 
applied. The Sultan professed to accept the reforms on Octo- 
ber i6th, 1896, and the above figures show with what energy, 
zeal and good faith he carried them out; for most of the work 
was done within two months of that date. There can be nu 
doubt that the Sultan deserves credit for these "reforms," for 
he claims it himself, assuring Lord Salisbury, in a letter made 
public at his request, that they were being executed under his 
personal direction. Kurds and soldiers have constantly de- 
clared tliat they were simply obeying the Sultan's orders and 
that this was the case is clear from the fact that no one has 
been punished ior disobedience, not even the ofificials in whose 
presence the American colony at Harpoot was bombarded, 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 24I 

plundered and burnt out of home i8os in Nov. It has repeat- 
edly been preached that these outbreaks were carefully pre- 
arranged by disarming Christians and by prescribing limits 
as to place, time, duration and method of execution. 

It is from this spirit, the book of Koran, that the blood of 
many innocent persons has been shed in Turkey; it is from 
this spirit that children and delicate women have been ill 
treated and butchered. 

Let it be fully understood throughout the Christian world 
that the massacre is a religious demand which the Turks have 
to complete. 

As a Christian tries to be faithful to Christ and his teach- 
ings, so the Turks are trying to be faithful to their prophet and 
his teachings also. 

They go to the mosques and pray "Allah (God) help me or 
help us, strengthen our hands and sharpen our swords to kill 
the infidel Armenians." Then they come out from the mosques 
and begin to kill, plunder, outrage and commit every sort of 
indescribable atrocities on the peaceable and defenceless Arme- 
nians ; but it will grow worse than ever since so called Christian 
nations have given the Sultan public notice that they will not 
interfere with him. Do not be deceived by his lying reports. 
There were no Armenian rebellions; they could not rebel; they 
did not kill the Turks ; they never dreamed of such madness. 
This awful fate has fallen on them purely and simply for being 
Christians. 

This is the Fetva or secret sentence which comes out from 
the Shaikhull Islam: If the Giavoure or Kafifirs, which means 
blasphemers, do not accept the true religion they should be 
killed and their property be appropriated by the true believers. 

Of course they cannot help it: it is their faith, a religion for 
barbarians. 

Their teachers or Hojas go to the mosques and preach to 
them this way: "You Mohammedans love your fellow believ- 
ers, but hate and kill all others; they afe Giavoures, heathen 
dogs and hogs." To kill a Christian is just the same as to kill 
a hog for them. 



242 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

The Hojas say that first you ask them to accept our faith; 
if they do you must not harm them, but if they will not, kill 
them, because they have no right to live in a Mohammedan 
country. It is a great virtue the more Christians you kill, and 
the greater reward you will have from Allah (or God) and his 
prophet Mohammed. 

The Turks slaughter Armenians to earn this reward; there 
is no nationality like Turks which ever respects or gratify the 
females. 

If a woman falls into their hands she need not hope to 
keep her virtue and religion; they violate her first, then force 
her to become a Mohammedan after all. 

In the years of 1894 and 1895 in a good many places in 
Armenia or Turkey, a number of able-bodied young Armenians 
were captured, bound, covered with brushwood and burned 
alive, but thousands surrendered themselves and plead for 
mercy. Many of them were shot down on the spot and the re- 
mainder were dispatched with sword and bayonet. 

Lots of women, variously estimated from 60 to 160, were 
locked up in a church and the soldiers were commanded to let 
loose, kill them. Most of them were outraged to death in a 
different way. 

Once, when a number of young women were in one 
place, locked up, the Turks advised them that if they were car- 
ried off to the harems or their houses they could get along 
with them very nicely, but if you refused you would be killed, 
so they did. 

Children were placed in a row, one behind another, and a 
bullet fired through the line, apparently to see how many could 
be shot down with one bullet; houses were surrounded by sol- 
diers, set on fire and the inmates forced back into the flames 
at the point of the bayonet as they tried to escape. A number 
of men of one village, during their escape, took the women and 
children, about five hundred in number, and placed them in a 
sort of grotto in a ravine ; after several days the soldiers found 
them and butchered those who had not died of hunger. 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 243 

Fifty young women and girls were selected from one vil- 
lage and placed in a church, when the soldiers were ordered to 
do with them as they liked, after which they were butchered. 

In another village fifty choice women were set aside 
and urged to change their faith and become Hauums (or lady) 
in Turkish harems, but they indignantly refused to deny Christ, 
preferring the fate of their fathers and husbands. People were 
crowded into the houses, which were then set on fire; in one 
instance a little boy ran out of the flames, but was caught on a 
bayonet and thrown back. Children were frequently held up 
by the hair and cut in two, or had their jaws torn a^art. 
Women with children were ripped open, and older children 
were pulled apart by their legs. 

A handsome recently wedded couple fled to a hill top; sol- 
diers followed and told them that they were pretty and would 
be spared if they would accept Islamism, but the thought of 
the horrible death they knew would follow did not prevent them 
from confessing Christ. 

"the inexpiable wrong, the unutterable shame." 

If the Turks and the Kurds only killed and killed clean, 
there would be less indignation in the heart of mankind. But 
they, of all savages, least hearken to the well-known prayer — 

"Spare us the inexpiable wrong, the unutterable shame 
That turns the coward's heart to steel, the sluggard's blood to 
flames." 

In all the atrocities of the Armenian charnel-house nothing 
can for a moment vie in hideous and unspeakable horror the 
continuous and never-ending string of narratives of the foulest 
of outrages on women and children. 

It is assumed too often that the continual liability to viola- 
tion with impunity of generation after generation would have 
somewhat deadened the sense of female honour in the unfortu- 
nate Armenians. Dr. Dillon, however, confirming many other 
witnesses, says that this is by no means the case. 



244 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

I have seen and conversed with hundreds and hundreds of 
Armenian women lately, and I have found no signs of the tem- 
pering process. Whatever vices or virtues may be predicated 
of Armenian women, chastity must be numbered among their 
essential characteristics. They carry it to an incredible ex- 
treme. In many places an Armenian woman never speaks to 
any man but her husband, unless the latter is present. Even 
to her nearest and dearest male relatives and connections she 
has nothing to say; and her puritv-, in the slums of Erzeroum 
as in the valleys of Sassoum, is above suspicion. Yet these are 
the people who are being continually outraged by Kurds and 
Turks, oftentimes until death releases them. 

"English people have not even a remote notion of the extent 
to which young married women and girls are outraged all over 
Armenia by Turkish soldiers, imperial Zaptiehs-, Kurdish offi- 
cers and brigands; — and outraged with such accompaniments 
of nameless brutality that their agonies often culminate in a 
horrible death. Girls of eleven and twelve — nay, of nine — are 
torn from their families and outraged in this way by a band 
of 'men' whose names are known, and whose deeds are ap- 
proved by the representatives of law and order. Indeed, these 
representatives are themselves the monsters, the bestial poison 
of whose loathsome passion is destroying 'the subtle, pure, and 
innocent spirit of life.' 

"Rape, violation, outrages that have no name, and whose 
authors should have no mercy, are become the commonplaces 
of daily life in Armenia. And the Turkish 'gentleman' smiles 
approval. I have myself, says Dr. Dillon, collected over 300 
of these cases, and I have heard of countless others. 

"The following case is one in which I took a very lively in- 
terest because I am well acquainted with the victim and her 
family. Her name is Lucine Mussegh, her native village 
Khnoossaberd, Born in 1878, Lucine was sent at an early age 
Armenian Missionary school at Erzeroum, where she was 
taught the doctrines of evangelical Christianity, her father, 
Aghadjan Kemalian, having always manifested a strong sym- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 245 

pathy for Protestantism. Armenian parents are continually 
scheming for the purpose of shielding their daughters from 
violation by the Turks and Kurds. Lucine, to escape this dan- 
ger, was taken from school at the age of fourteen, and wedded 
to a boy of her own age, ^^lilikean by name, and having lived 
some time with him under his father's roof, was sent to the 
Protestant school once more. One night, during her hus- 
band's absence from home, she was seized by some men, 
dragged by the hair, gagged, and taken to the house of Hussni 
Bey. This man is the son of the Deputy-Governor of the place. 
He dishonored the young woman and sent her home next day, 
but her husband refused to receive her any more, and she is 
now friendless and alone in the world. 

"Lucine's father presented a complaint to the colonel of the 
Hamidehs, and a petition to the parish priest. The Metropoli- 
tan Archbishop of Erzeroum likewise took the matter in hand, 
and appealed to the Governor-General of the Vilayet, and to 
the Court Khnouss. But all to no purpose. Lucine is now a 
pariah. In her Appeal to the Women of England, which is 
too long and too naive to find a place here, Lucine says: 

We suffered in patience when our corn, butter, and honey 
were seized, and we were left poor and hungry; we bowed our 
heads in sorrowful resignation when our kith and kin were cut 
down by the Kurds and Turks. Are we also to be silent and 
submissive now that our race is being poisoned at its source? 
Now that child-mothers and baby-daughters are being defiled 
and brutalised by savages? Say, Christian sisters, is there in 
truth no remedy? .... We ask for no revenge, for no 
privileges; we ask only that .... but need I be more 
explicit to English matrons, wives and sisters? .... Al- 
though we are Armenians we are Christians; I was brought 
up in a Protestant school, as you were ; I drew my moral susten- 
ance from the Bible, as you did; I was taught to feel and think, 
as you were . . . For the love of God, then, whom we 
worship in common, help us, Christian sisters, before it is too 



246 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

late, and take the thanks of the motherss, wives, sisters, and 
daughters of my people, and with them the gratitude of one 
for whom, in spite of her youth, death would come as a happy 
release 

(Signed) LUCINE MUSSEGH. 

"I have also received a piteous appeal to women of Eng- 
land from some hundreds of Armenian women of the District 
of Khnouss, begging as an inestimable favor to be shielded 
from the brutal treatment to which they are all subjected. It 
is needless to publish it here. Written appeals are seldom very 
forcible. If the reader had seen the wretched women them- 
selves, as I saw them, and heard them tell their gruesome tales 
in the simplest of words, punctuated by sobs and groans, em- 
phasised by misery and squalor, they would be in a condition to 
form some idea of the state of things in Armenia, which in the 
good old times of theocracy would have brought down con- 
suming fire from heaven. In the village of Begli Akhmed, 
for example, I met a woman of about twenty-eight clothed 
in ragged pieces of dirty carpets, with a pale emaciated boy 
of twelve, suffering from a terrible cough, who looked like a 
typhus patient aged only six or seven. I asked her to tell her 
story, and this is what she said : 

My name is Atlass Manookian; I come from the village 
of Khrt (Khnouss District). We were very well ofif, but the 
Kurds took away everything we had. Everything, Effendi; 
still my poor husband worked for me and the child here, though 
they told us to go. One day I was bringing bread to my hus- 
band in the field, they struck me on the head and dishonored 
me. That was in the daytime. ... 

" Tt was at noon, mother, when father used to eat his 
bread, that they did that to you,' broke in the ghost of a child. 
I never in my life witnessed anything more horrible than the 
sight of those two friendless, hopeless wretches, as they stood 
there trembling in the cold, the dying child thus simply bearing 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 247 

witness that his mother was dishonored in the fields by a num- 
ber of neighboring Kurds. She then went on: *I complained 
to the head officer, Sheikh Moorad, but the Binbashi beat me 
cruelly about the head and back, and knocked me down. 
Then, last spring, when my husband was sowing corn, All 
Mahmed came up and killed him.' 'With an axe, mother,' 
said the boy. 'We are now alone in the world, wandering and 
begging, and nobody knows us,' said the woman. Having 
given her some coins, I hurried away, vainly striving to shake 
off the horrible impression which clung to me, like a hideous 
ghost, for weeks afterwards. 

"Let me close this awful chapter with one despairing cry. 
It was written November 14, 1894, to an Armenian missionary 
by one of his old pupils: — 

" 'I implore and earnestly entreat that you will remember 
one of your former pupils, and hear my cry for sympathy and 
protection. I have been outraged. Oh, woe is me, eternal 
pain and sorrow to my young heart! Evil disposed and law- 
less men have robbed me of the bloom and beauty of my wifely 

purity. It was H Bey, the son of the Kaimakam (the local 

Turkish Governor residing in the village). It was in the even- 
ing between six and seven o'clock. I was engaged in my 
household work. I stepped outside the door, when I sud- 
denly found myself in the grasp of four men. They smothered 
my cries and threatened my life, and by force carried me off to 
a strange house. Oh what black hours were those till the 
sweet light of the sun once more arose! Though this is writ- 
ten with ink, beHeve me, it is written in blood and tears.' " 

By the few examples here given, the true nature of the 
Mohammedanism may be closely ascertained, that religion 
as you may observe gives many opportunities for the corrup- 
tion of the morality of mankind, and with it endangers the 
property of the people. 

A private letter from a young lady to her dear brother of 
Csesarea, Asia Minor, in Turkey, Dec. 31, 1895: 

My Dear Brother: Before the horrible massacre, every- 



248 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

body was in fear; several families would gather in one house 
to protect themselves, and all Armenian stores were closed for 
twenty days; but as the government guaranteed that there 
would be no danger, and told everyb'ody to attend to their 
business, and open their shops, they did so. It was the i6th 
of November, on Saturday, that all peoples opened their shops 
again, and the transaction of business commenced in full force. 
At 2 p. m., at the doors of market, bugles sounded, and sev- 
eral hundred bashr-bozook (irregular soldiers), were at the 
doors of the bazaar, every one of them having in his hands 
stilettos, swords, yataghans, guns, revolvers, hammers, axes, 
hatchets, sickles, poinards, daggers, and heavy sticks with 
twenty or thirty nails fastened to them. 

Then they blew horns, the signal to start the massacre, 
cries were heard, first kill, cut and butcher the Gianours; the 
property already belongs to us; cut, cut, kill, don't care plun- 
dering. Then they rushed into the market and slaughtered 
all they met. Oh; you can imagine what became of those 
who fell into the hands of those brutes. Alas! alas! how un- 
speakable! They butchered them like cattle; cut their heads 
off like onions. Some tried to run, but could not; others 
tried to escape but were brought back and killed. The bazaar 
was full of dead bodies. People hid themselves among the 
goods, and in the cellars and were saved; ten or fifteen days 
after, people were found there in a starving condition, not hav- 
ing dared to come out. They killed at once in a factory thirty- 
eight men; in Kayanjilar everybody was slain. After the mas- 
sacre was over the Governor, Yerrick Pasha, sent soldiers 
around, and they discovered many people hiding and took 
them back to the Government house, (Saray), examined their 
pockets for revolvers and knives, and not finding any the gov- 
ernor sent them to their homes. 

They plundered the bazaar of all its goods, and then, oh, my 
Lord; they rushed upon the house, and upon women in Turk- 
ish baths. I believe you don'tiknow the meaning of Turkish 
bath. In Turkey, as a rule, twice, or once a week, and gen- 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 249 

erally on Saturday, good many Armenian women go to Turk- 
ish baths to wash themselves. On that Saturday in Turkish 
baths more than four hundred Armenian women, young ladies 
and girls. At meantime a good many bashi-bazook came in 
Turkish baths. ... I cannot describe this ; when I think 
of it, my whole body trembles. The people in the baths were 
killed and wounded, and they carried away the young ladies 
and girls; every one was killed that they came in contact with. 
The houses were i:»lundered of all their contents and buildings 
were torn down, and houses full of people were burned. Oh, 
how terrible. What I say you cannot imagine to be so; you 
may think it is a dream, because your eyes have not seen nor 
your ears heard the screams, wailings, weeping, shrieks and 
groaning, that even your forefathers never heard, but of which 
our ears are full day and night. 

Some of the kidnapped girls were brought back by the 
Government, but most of them were wounded and half dead 
from fright. Thank God, we are safe, but we are not better 
than those girls. We are lost, lost, ruined, no work, no busi- 
ness, every one of us looking for safety. Happy, happy be 
vou that are in America and have nothing to fear. They say 
to me. vou ought to be with your brother in America now. If 
tlie way was opened everybody would like to go. 

If you are not in good circumstances there, you must 
feel satisfied and give thanks to God always. We also have to 
thank God that we are still living. It is one month now that 
we have not been able to go out in the street. O, Lord, help 
us. Oh ; what shall we come to? Oh my dear brother, if you 
can help us in any way please do so ; make lectures, get some 
help; everybody is dying of hunger. I cannot write any 
longer; w^e leave all to your conscience. I do not write this 
letter only to you, but to all. Do whatever you can for us; we 
are in a terrible condition. I thank you, my brother, for the 
money that you sent to me ; thank you very much. 

Your Sister. 



250 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

A letter has been written by the missionary lady from Oarfa, 
Jan. 28, 1896: 

Dear Friend: Your only remaining brother sends you a 
letter, but no letters can begin to explain the sad state of this 
city. The massacre of Dec. 28 and 29 has left all homes ex- 
cept Catholics and Syrians entirely empty of any comforts. 
Many families have not one bed even; all cooking utensils, 
clothing, bedding, carpets, etc., were taken. Most have a 
little Zakhere left, though some have not that. We are feed- 
ing about 175 of the most needy, and more will come to us 
every week. The loss by death is between 4,000 and 5,000. 
Our pastor, the Rev. Hogop Abauhayatian, Dr. Kivore, and 
brother Haratoun, Sarkis varjebed chubukian and b rother and 
son, Garabed, Raumian, Habbangan Avedis, and brother Sar- 
kis, old sexton Garabed and other sexton, ogas, Magar Kivore 
and brother Bogos and Berber Manofa and two sons,Eskiyi- 
yan Morderas, Zarman Boamian's three sons, are sortie of the 
dead. In all, our Protestant dead are 115. Some of our peo- 
ple perished in the Gregarian Church, where 1,500 or 2,000 
went for refuge Saturday night, and on Sunday were murdered 
or burned, very few escaping. 

It was the most awful of all the terrible events of those 
two da3's. Thank God, two hundred and forty were saved by 
coming to me. Sixty of them were men. I could not keep 
the men in my house or yard, because it was forbidden by the 
guards, but hid them elsewhere, and fed them for three or four 
days. The government carefully protected me, and killed as 
many of my friends as possible. We have our house and all 
the schoolrooms full of the wounded and the most forlorn. 

Our Oarfa redeaf leave tomorrow; we have now soldiers 
now for guard of the city; and Christians epecially. Oarfa re- 
deafs have been poor guards, and but for them the awful work 
would not have been accomplished. The pastor of Severek, 
the Rev. Marderas, the Rev. Vartan remains alive in Adaya- 
man. Both in Severek and Adayaman the number of the 
killed was very great. In Birijik, about 200 were killed, and 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 25I 

all remaining- have become Moslems; thev have been circum- 
cised. 

In Aintab about 300 were killed, 847 shops plundered, 
and 417 houses, and about 400 wounded. 

During our first disturbance, six to seven hundred shops 
were plundered, and about 175 houses. Then the Chris- 
tians used arms to defend themselves. Since then all arms 
have been taken by the government from the Christians, and 
the leaders were forced to sign a paper stating the city as "in 
peace and harmony, thanks to the rulers," etc.; twenty-five 
signed it, and now almost all of those have been killed. 

Our pastor signed for Protestants. 

Only two of the Gregarian priests remain, and they are 
wounded. The bishop is alive, but feeble and does not work 
publicly now. Their state is very bad. We desire your 
prayers, and the aid of all who can give us help by money at 
this time. Sincerely your Friend. 

Before the coming end of this book, I would like to say 
a few words about the same especial martyrs. 

During the wholesale massacre of the Christian Armen- 
ians, a good many thousands, the brave and faithful Christian 
men and women, they are never deny their Saviour of Jesus 
Christ before the swords of their enemies, most of them they 
are bravely confessed their Christian faith and their martyrs, 
as the follows. 

Ourfa, Dec. 29, 1895. During the massacre on that day, 
while every Armenian was running with their life, six of them 
entered the house of Rev. Absuhayatian of that city to find 
shelter there. In the meantime, fifteen Mohammedans, well 
armed, came to the house of Rev. Absuhayatian and asked him 
to come out. When he did so they told him how well they 
thought of him and for such a good man as he is it would be 
advisable to accept the religion of Mussalman, in answer to this 
Rev. Absuhaytian said: "No, I cannot do that. I cannot deny 
my Redeemer." The Mohammedans repeated their re^quest 
three times and each time the answer they received wa's the 
same, and the last time Rev. Absuhayatian said: '1 cannot 



252 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

give up my faith, and would rather die a Christian." As he 
finished these last words a bullet went through his left breast, 
fired by one of the Mohammedans, who was standing some 
distance from the victim. Following the shooting, others 
struck him and stabbed him with their daggers and swords un- 
til the victim was utterly helpless. Then they went inside of 
the house, found the six men hidden there, these they killed and 
wounded to death, also Rev. Absuhayatian, about twelve hours 
afterward, died a martyr for Christianity. 

Severek, Nov. 23, 1895. While Rev. Mardiros was in his 
house a band of Kurds and Mohammedans walked into the 
house and requested that he should accept the religion of Islam 
(or Islamism), Rev. Mardiros said, "No, cannot comply with 
your request, nor can I deny my Lord and my Saviour." At 
this time they took one of his sons and killed him there; then 
they asked him (Rev. Mardiros) if he was ready to accept Islam- 
ism, for if he did his life will be spared. To this they received 
again a negative answer, and they brought the second son and 
murdered' him there in the presence of his father; and Rev. 
Mardiros was asked the third time if he was now willing to 
accept the right religion. They received the same negative 
answer. Then a Kurd struck him with his sword, and the 
poor sufferer raised his voice and said, 'T am a Christian. My 
name is Mardiros, and I have received this namiC while I was 
being baptized to be a martyr for Christ. At that moment 
some one of the crowd struck his head with an axe, and the 
victim fell to the ground dead. 

Ourfa, 3,500 attendants in an Armenian church were 
burnt to ashes by kerosene oil. 

Beridjik, a Christian young man, was repeatedly re- 
quested to turn to Islamism, but he persistently refused to 
do so, saying, 'T am a Christian, and I cannot accept your 
false prophet." His head was put into a large stone mortar 
and was smashed to death. 

Mar ash, an elderly gentleman of my acquaintance, ad- 
vised his two sons while they were being murdered before his 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 253 

eyes that through fear of death they should not deny Christ; 
it is better for them to die and be martyrs for Christ ; and they 
were made martyrs, and the father also was killed, to follow 
his sons. And again, my brother-in-law in Marash, with his 
two sons, were invited to accept Mohammedanism. On re- 
fusal of such request all three were killed. They soon found 
his son-in-law and killed him also. The bloodthirsty mob 
found twenty-six persons hidden in one house. After killing 
them all, they tied ropes around their feet and dragged the 
dead bodies through the streets as they do the body of an 
animal. 

These are only a few of the true happenings of every- 
day massacres in Armenia, and tens of thousands of such 
bloody works can be gathered. While at this time the blood 
of these martyrs is crying out to us of the cruel injustice to 
them, their spirits beneath the altar of the Heavenly Throne 
are crying still louder and saying, "O, Lord! when wilt Thou 
revenge our enemies?" Truly, the number of martyrs of Chris- 
tianity in Armenia and in the entire Ottoman Empire during 
1894 and 1895 has been greater than has been known to other 
nations. 

Sivas, Nov. 12, 1895. — Rev. Gorabed Kilyjian died a- 
martyr, his life being offered him three times if he would deny 
Christ. He bore noble testimony before many witnesses, then 
fell in their presence, sealing his faith and testimony with his 
blood. 

The nature of the pacification which may be expected if 
Turkey is left free to carry out its schemes for these provinces 
may be judged from the following list of educated and influ- 
ential ministers, who have been put to death for refusing to 
embrace Mohammedanism. In every case 'the offer of life on 
these terms was made; in several cases time w^as allowed for 
consideration of the proposal; and in each case faith in Jesus 
Christ was the sole crime charged against the victim. 

1. Rev. Krikor, pastor at Ichme, killed Nov. 6, 1895. 

2. Rev. Krikor Tamzarien. 



254 ILLUSTRATED ARMENIA 

3. Rev. Boghos Atlasian, killed November 13. 

4. Rev. Mardiros Siraganian, of Abakir, killed Nov. 13. 

5. Rev. Garabed Kilijjian of Sivas, killed Nov. 12. 

6. Rev. Mr. Stepan, of the Anglican Church at Marash, 
killed Nov. 18. 

7. The preacher of the village of Hajin, killed at Marash, 
Nov. 18. 

8. Rev. Krikor Baghdasarian, retired preacher at Har- 
poot, Nov. 18. 

9. Retired preacher at Divrik, killed Nov. 8. 

10. Rev. Garabed Resseian, pastor at Cherwouk, Nov. 

12. Pastor at Cutteroul, Nov. 6. 

13. Preacher at Cutteroul, Nov. 6. 

14. Rev. Sarkis Narkashjian, pastor at Chounkoush, 
Nov. 14. 

15. The pastor of the chur<:^h at vSeverek, November. 

16. The pastor of the church at Adiyaman. 

17. Rev. Hohannes Hachadorian, pastor at Kilisse, 
Nov. 7. 

18. The preacher at Karabesh, near Diarbekr, Nov. 7. 

19. Rev. Mardiros Tarzian, pastor at Keserik, hear Har- 
poot, November. 

THE BLOT ON THIS NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

Dear reader, do you know how many thousand Chris- 
tians have been killed during this nineteenth century? It 
stands about as follows: 

1822, Greeks, especially in the Island of;Sco 55,ooo 

1850, Nestorians and Armenians, in Kurdistan 12,000 

i860, Maronites and Syrians, Lebanon and Damascus 11,00,0 

1876, Bulgarians in Bulgaria 13.500 

1894, Armenians, in Armenia and Sassoun 12,000 

1895-6, Armenians, in Constantinople and all over in 

Asia Minor, more than.............;.......... 71,895 



AND THE ARMENIANS. 255 

1896 and 1897, Greeks, in Island of Crete and Greece, 
at the last war, over 55,000 



The total number 240,395 

In a word the nineteenth century has been a bloody and 
blotted era for the eastern Christians, because up to this date 
over 240,000 men and women and innocent children have been 
killed and butchered in cold blood by the brutal and immoral Is- 
lamism. Therefore many thousands of such bloody words 
can be gathered. While at this date the blood of those martyrs 
is crying out for the cruel injustice to them and to the orphans 
and widows left behind them, their spirits also, beneath the 
altar of the Heavenly Throne, are crying still louder and 
saying, "O Lord, when wilt thou revenge our enemies.'' Truly 
the number of martyrs of Christianity in Armenia and of the 
entire Ottoman Empire during the 19th century 1ias been 
greater than has been known to other nations. 



TABULAR VIEW OF THE ARMENIAN MASSACRES. 

From 1894 to 1896, 26 of August. 



NAME OF TOWN 


DATE OF 


NUMBER 


BY WHO.AI DONE. 


AND THE VILLAGES. 


MASSACRE. 


KILLED. 




Sassoiin and Villages . 


1894 




More than 12,000 


Soldiers, Kurds and Turks. 


Constantinople . . . 


1895, Sept. 


30 


3,000 


Police, Softas and Turks. 


Ak-Hisaar 


" Oct. 


9 


150 


Moslem villagers. 


Trebizond 


t( a 


8 


800 


Soldiers, Lazes and Turks. 


Baiburt and Villages . 


" " 


13 


1,200 


Lazes and Turks 


Gumushane and Vill's . 


" " 


11 


150 


Turks and Kurds. 


Erzingian and Villages 


" " 


21 


1,000 


Soldiers and Turks. 


Bitlis and Villages . . 


" " 


25 


1,200 


Soldiers, Kurds and Turks. 


Harpoot and Vicinities 


" Nov. 


11 


" 15,845 


U l( (( n 


Sivas and \Mcinities . 


" " 


12 


1,500 


Soldiers and Turks. 


Palu and Villages . . 


" Oct. 


25 


4,000 


Soldiers, Kurds and Turks. 


Diarbekr and Vicinities 


" " 


25 


3,500 


(1 11 (1 11 


Albostan 


" " 




150 , 


Turks and Kurds. 


Eerzerum and Vicinities 


" " 


30 


3,000 


Soldiers and Turks. 


Onrf a and Villages . . 


( " Nov. 
1 " Dec. 


3 

28 


} " " 3,500 


Kurds, Turks and Soldiers. 


Kara, Hessar .... 


" Oct. 


25 


500 


Circassians and Turks. 


Maltia 


" Nov. 


6 


250 


Turks and Kurds. 


Marash and Villages . 


" " 


18 


1,200 




Aintab and Kilis . . . 


ii (1 


15 


1,150 


Soldiers and Turks. 


Guoroon 


<i 11 


10 


3,500 


Kurds and Turks. 


Daranda 


(( u 


9 


750 


11 U 11 


Ashody 


u u 


9 


125 


" " " 


Arabkir 


t( It 





2,000 


11 11 11 


Argana 


" 




150 


i( 11 11 


Soverck 


" Dec. 


19 


250 


11 It .1 


Birejeck, Jibinand Orul 


" Nov. 


19 


500 


11 11 11 


Aduyaman and Basny . 


(i i( 


17 


1,.300 


11 11 11 


Azizia and Gamerac 


K U 


13 


500 


11 11 11 


Divrigy and Villages . 


11 U 


13 


250 


Kurds, Circassians, Turks. 


Bakhur Madany . . . 


11 11 


12 


200 


II 11 11 


Mush 


" " 


12 


150 


11 11 <i 


Tokat 


" " 




.350 


11 11 11 


Amasia 


" " 




" " 250 


11 11 .( 


Yozgat and Villages 


n n 


19 


1,575 


II 11 11 


Egun 


u u 


13 


250 


Kedif s and Turks. 


»' . 


1896 again. 


2,250 


Kurds and Turks. 


Zaytoon, Gaban . . . 


) 








Fnrnuz, Doongala . . 


[ 1895 




3,000 


Soldiers and Turks. 


Shivilgy, Nuorpat . . 


) 








Gaoksoom, Shardarasy 

and Hajine .... 

Adana and Vicinity . . 


[ " Nov. 


25 


" 800 


Soldiers, Ofshar Turks. 


u 


20 


150 


Circassians and Turks. 


Caesarea and Neegda . 


11 u 


16 


1,200 


11 11 11 


And some other places 






" " 150 


Turks 



During the three years from 1894 to 1896,26 of August, the total' number of the 
massacres of the Christian Armenians in Asia Minor and Turkey, 83,895. 

The statistics of the last outrages will never be accurately knovpn, but by the most 
careful figures thus far received, the partial are as told. In the table below I wish to 
show the population of the ten provinces, and the houses and shops are plundered, 
and destroyed or burned in the ten provinces, namely: Erzerum, liitlifi, Dinrfiekr, 
Van, Harpoot, Sivas, Trehi?:ond, Angora, Adana, and Aleppo. 



2:;C 



